The Delhi Police Wednesday communicated with the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, in connection with the suicide attempt by its student Garima Agarwal due to plagiarism of her PhD thesis.
In a statement to The Indian Express on Wednesday, the IISER said, “The institute has received a communication on this matter from the Delhi police. The institute will share with them the information they have requested for.”
Meanwhile, IISER has also referred the matter to its board of governors for “stronger action” against Garima’s supervisor Dr Anindya Goswami, who is accused of allegedly enabling plagiarism of her PhD thesis by another student.
A native of Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, Agarwal got admitted to IISER Pune in 2016 after she scored the 38th rank in the ‘IIT Jam’ exam. She got enrolled for MSc and PhD (Mathematics). According to her family, Agarwal had been suffering from depression as her PhD thesis was “plagiarized”. She allegedly tried to take her own life at her residence in Delhi on December 14. She was admitted to a hospital for treatment.
An FIR was lodged in this case at the Shahdara police station in Delhi on December 19 under Section 406 (criminal breach of trust) of the Indian Penal Code.
According to the FIR, in 2020, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the college management asked all students to go home. Agarwal came to Delhi and started living with her sister. In September 2020, Goswami became Agarwal’s supervisor for PhD and MSc. According to the FIR, another student, Shristi Gupta, was also completing her thesis under Goswami’s guidance.
As per the FIR, Gupta submitted her MSc thesis to IISER in which she allegedly copied Agarwal’s work presented during the online meetings with Goswami. Gupta allegedly claimed it was her work and Goswami too certified it, saying it was done under her supervision, states the FIR.
Agarwal said she was shocked to know that her thesis had been plagiarised but ignored it fearing that the supervisor would damage her career. Meanwhile, Gupta got her MSc degree from IISER and took admission in an MBA course in Delhi University.
Agarwal said she again started her PhD work under Goswami. According to the FIR, by July 2022, Agarwal had completed her new research work and it was ready to be published in the journal. But then she got to know that Goswami had allegedly put Gupta’s name as author of the thesis.
This time, Agarwal called Goswami and questioned him but Goswmi allegedly told her that he had “promised” Gupta and wanted to “launch her in academia”. Goswami also allegedly threatened to damage Agarwal’s career if she filed a complaint over the issue, the FIR said.
On July 25, 2022, Agarwal’s sister Dr Shilpa Goel filed a detailed complaint to the IISER director through an email. The institute conducted an inquiry into the complaint and passed an order on November 22.
“IISER found Goswami guilty and passed an order that he should not supervise any new student for the next one year. But in the same order, I was given directions to work with Goswami…due to this, I started suffering from depression,” Agarwal said in the FIR and sought action against Goswami, Gupta and the IISER director.
On January 9, activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) protested at IISER, Pune, seeking justice for Garima. Prof Jayant Udgaonkar, Director, IISER, Pune, gave a letter signed by him to ABVP’s Pune city head Shubhankar Bachal, stating the institute will “recommend to the Board of Governors, IISER Pune a stronger action” against Dr Goswami, “including suspension”.
Dr Goswami had told The Indian Express, “It is not appropriate to comment as the matter is with the police. I feel there is a misunderstanding. The institute is a neutral body for all students.”