More than a month after nearly 200 irreplaceable doctoral theses and research dissertations were stolen from the historic Faculty of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vigyan (SVDV) at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Varanasi, the central university’s administration has yet to initiate concrete disciplinary action against the accused staff member—even as dozens of priceless academic manuscripts remain untraced. Compounding outrage among research scholars and faculty members across the Lanka and Assi campus corridors in Varanasi, the accused employee—who remained absent from duty for weeks after the incident surfaced—has quietly resumed regular work at the faculty without facing suspension or a formal departmental inquiry.The episode has sparked sharp questions across academic circles in Varanasi, Lucknow, Prayagraj, and Gorakhpur over institutional accountability and the safeguarding of archival scholarly heritage inside one of India’s premier central universities.How the October 10 Break-In Unfolded—and Why Scholars Fear Dissertations Were Sold as ScrapAccording to faculty and student accounts, the theft occurred on the night of October 10, 2026, when an almirah housing decades-old research dissertations inside the Faculty of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vigyan was broken open and roughly 200 bound theses were removed. Shockingly, allegations quickly surfaced that priceless Sanskrit, Vedic, and Indological research volumes—representing years of painstaking scholarship by past BHU researchers—were pilfered and allegedly sold off as scrap paper (raddi).Once the break-in came to light and triggered immediate protests by research scholars, a portion of the stolen theses was recovered. However, a substantial number of dissertations still remain missing, leaving serious gaps in the faculty’s archival collection and raising fears that rare, unpublished manuscripts may have been permanently destroyed.CCTV Footage Handed Over, Yet Accused Employee Returns to DutyIn the immediate aftermath of the October 10 theft, the suspected employee stopped reporting to work for several days, prompting the administration to temporarily withhold his salary on account of unauthorized absence. Research students point out that surveillance cameras installed on the faculty premises captured clear CCTV footage showing the employee carrying away the bound theses.Although students and departmental representatives formally submitted the CCTV evidence to senior university authorities, no formal charge sheet, suspension order, or visible disciplinary proceeding has materialized over the past five weeks. Instead, the employee recently returned to duty at the faculty—a development that has deepened frustration among PhD scholars demanding strict punitive action and full recovery of every missing dissertation.Dean Prof. Rajaram Shukla Confirms Action Recommendation Sent to BHU AdministrationAddressing concerns over the apparent administrative inertia at the university headquarters, Professor Rajaram Shukla, Dean of the Faculty of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vigyan, clarified that the faculty leadership has already fulfilled its procedural responsibility. Confirming that the matter has been escalated to top decision-makers, Prof. Shukla stated that a formal recommendation seeking strict action in the thesis theft case has already been forwarded from the faculty level to the central BHU administration.With November academic activities in full swing across Banaras Hindu University, students and alumni are now looking to the Vice-Chancellor’s office and the Registrar’s secretariat to break the silence, hold the culprits accountable on the basis of existing CCTV records, and institute foolproof archival security across all BHU faculties so that priceless academic heritage is never again treated like scrap.
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