KU researcher files complaint against her guide

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The complaint submitted by a research scholar of Kerala University to Vice-Chancellor A Jayakrishnan and Ambalappuzha police station alleging that her research guide had sent her emails with sexual overtones has  kicked up a controversy. However, in a related development, the guide has submitted a complaint to the Cyber Cell that his email had been hacked. The Cyber Cell has forwarded it to Google for getting the details of the IP address. As per the complaint submitted by the research scholar, a teacher of a management institute in Alappuzha district, the research guide Gangadharan Nair, a retired professor of Commerce at the Institute of Distance Education (IDE) of Kerala University, had sent emails after May 12 this year with sexual overtones. The Vice-Chancellor said that he had forwarded the complaint to the Registrar. The university had also sought an explanation from the guide who denied his involvement. The case is now under the scrutiny of the Cyber Cell, he said.  The teacher, who submitted the complaint, confirmed that she had submitted complaints to the university and the police. ‘’The complaint is in front of the Vice-Chancellor. Let him take a decision on the complaint first. He had assured me to take action within one week. I will comment on the issue afterwards,’’ she said.  Gangadharan Nair told ‘Express’ that someone had hacked his email Id to sent the messages. ‘’I have submitted a complaint to the Poojappura police. They have forwarded the complaint to the Cyber Cell. As far as my knowledge goes, the Cyber Cell has contacted Google for getting information of the IP address,’’ he said.  ‘’This was surely an attempt to defame me. Let the police complete their inquiry. I am also keenly awaiting the results, as the e-mail was part of a concerted attempt to defame me,’’ he said. The research tenure of the research scholar was over on July 24. She is yet to get the final approval letter on completing the thesis. She had joined for research on the topic ‘human resource management’ under Gangadharan Nair as a part-time researcher in 2005 while he was the faculty of the IDE. He retired from service the same year.