AU professor from Vizag held after woman complains through Disha app

A 43-year-old professor working at Andhra University in Vizag was taken into custody by Eluru town police, after they received a distress call through the Disha app during the early hours of Tuesday.

As per police statements, a call was made to the authorities around 4:20 am. The Disha Control Centre received an SOS alert, after which, it was tracked to Eluru III town police limits.

The Eluru Police tracked the call and identified that it came from an APSRTC Garuda travelling from Vizag to Vijayawada. The police stopped the bus at Kalaparru toll gate and took K Basavaiah – the accused into custody.

The complainant was a government official working in Vijayawada. In her complaint, the woman alleged that the professor misbehaved with her on the bus, forcing her to raise a call through Disha app to the police for assistance. This was the first distress call received by the Disha Control Centre since its inception.

The accused has been handed over to the Pedapadu Police and a case has been registered under Sec 354 of IPC. He will be produced in court later on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, two other Andhra University professors have been booked under similar harassment charges. While one professor was charged for making abusive and vulgar comments in the classroom, the other was booked in a dowry harassment case under IPC Section 498A.