Gujarat BJP has suspended education baron Jayesh Patel, founder of Parul University, after he was accused of rape by a student of his university in Vadodara.
Mr. Patel is a local BJP leader in Vadodara and was previously with Congress and had contested Assembly polls twice.
On Monday, he also resigned as president of Parul University and has gone underground facing arrest.
"We have suspended him from the party," said Vadodara district BJP president Dilubha Chudasama.
On Sunday evening, the police arrested the university's women hostel rector Bhavna Patel in connection with the case, which was filed by a 22-year old nursing student, who was reportedly raped by the 66-year old Mr. Patel in his residence adjacent to the women hostel.
"The complaint was lodged and medical report has also confirmed that the complainant was raped. We have formed four teams to nab the main accused," said Vadodara rural police.
In her compliant, the student stated that she was taken to Mr. Patel's residence at night where he raped her and subsequently threatened her.
"He threatened me to expel from the college and fail in the exam if I revealed [about the rape] to anyone," the complainant stated in the FIR.
Meanwhile, a Mumbai-based model, who was a former student of the university has also alleged that Mr. Patel had "tortured her mentally and physically" when she was a student there in 2005-06.
"He was almost finished my career. I wanted to become a doctor and had taken admission into physiotherapy college. Due to his torture, I had to leave my studies midway and change my name and pursue a career in modelling," she was quoted as saying by the local media.
