“I wanted to keep away from the campus until my name was cleared, so I have voluntarily resigned from the post of principal,” Gudavalli Babu Rao, Principal of ANU College of Planning and Architecture said.
On the accusation of Rishikeswari’s father that he (Babu Rao) did not take action despite being given a complaint of harassment, Dr. Rao said: “Mr. Muralikrishna, father of Rishikeswari, met me and asked for a change of room. I asked him to meet the warden of the hostel, and the warden changed the room. He never mentioned about harassment or ragging.”
He added that the college had taken a number of steps against ragging. “We were the first department to install CC cameras on our college premises.
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We also constituted an anti-ragging committee, and I personally used to shoo off seniors if I ever found them near junior classes,” Dr. Rao said.
Holding that it pained him to see pictures of him dancing at a fresher’s party, Dr. Rao said he had found nothing wrong in it. “I went on the stage after the students invited me. There is nothing obscene in it. In fact, some parents were also present at the party,” he added.
As a founder principal of the college, which was set up in 2009 on the ANU premises, he said he had nurtured the college and transformed it into one of the best colleges of architecture and planning in South India.
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“The alumni of our college are working for the best architects in Dubai, and many of them are pursuing PG in Universities in the US. The department is also involved in the design of Amaravati,” he said.
Dr. Babu Rao added that he would come back only after his name was cleared. “I will come back and stay here for two to three months until they find a replacement. I cannot abandon the final year students and will ensure that they complete the course,” he said.