Bengaluru: Police have booked 18 people under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act including Infosys co-founder and Director of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Karnataka's Bengaluru on charges of caste abuse against a former employee.
It is learnt that the FIR was registered at Sadashivanagar police station on Monday against the accused including IISc Director, Prof Govindan Rangarajan and Infosys co-founder, Kris Gopalakrishnan. The complaint has been lodged by Prof D. Sanna Durgappa, a former employee of the institute.
Durgappa belongs to the Bovi community and has been a former Assistant Professor at the IISc's Centre for Sustainable Technology.
Besides Rangarajn and Gopalakrishnan, the other accused include Sridhar Warrier, Anil Kumar, Deepshika Chakravarthy, Namrutha, Dr. Nirmala, Sandhya, K.V.S. Hari, Dasappa, B.P. Balachandra, Balram P., Anjali A., Karande, Hemalatha, Chattopadhyay K., Pradeep, Abhilash Raju, Sundaraswamy, and Ramaswamy, Victor Manohar.
In his complaint, Prof. Durgappa alleged that during his tenure at IISc, spanning from 2008 to 2025, he faced “severe caste-based discrimination and harassment”. He accused the institute’s administration of orchestrating a false "honey trap" case to tarnish his reputation and subsequently terminate his employment.
"They made a fake honey trap case to discredit me and ultimately fired me from the institute," Durgappa stated in his complaint. He further alleged that the targeted harassment extended beyond his dismissal, claiming that efforts were made to blacklist him from securing employment elsewhere in the country.
He also alleged discrepancies in the institute’s handling of cases related to sexual harassment, accusing the administration of singling him out for punitive action that was harsher than in any other similar case. “Action has been taken against me that has not been taken against anyone in the sexual harassment cases registered in the institute so far,” he said.
Durgappa further accused the booked individuals of embezzling funds amounting to Rs 2,500 crore from IISc’s grants. “Such corruption has gone unchecked for years,” he claimed, calling for a thorough investigation.
The Sadashivanagar police confirmed that an FIR has been filed and an investigation has been initiated. Further details regarding the case and its proceedings are awaited. There was no response from the IISc Director of the Infosys co-founder over the allegations at the time this report was filed.
This development raises serious concerns about caste-based discrimination in prestigious institutions and the allegations of financial irregularities at IISc, a globally renowned center for scientific research.
What The Law States
Caste-based abuse is a punishable offense under Indian law, specifically through the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which criminalises acts of violence and discrimination against Scheduled Castes and Tribes, making any form of caste-based abuse, including verbal abuse, a legal offense.
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