COIMBATORE: The Salem city police arrested Periyar University Vice-Chancellor R Jagannathan on Tuesday on charges of misappropriation of public funds and starting a private entity.

As Jagannathan came out of the university premises around 4.45 pm on Tuesday, a special team that was waiting at the entrance arrested and took him to an undisclosed location for inquiry. Sources said a search is on for Registrar (in-charge) Thangavel.

The action was taken based on a complaint by I Elangovan, the legal advisor of Periyar University Employee Union (PUEU), who alleged that the V-C, Registrar (in-charge), a professor and an associate professor from Bharathidasan University in Tiruchy started Periyar University Technology Entrepreneurship and Research Foundation (PUTER Foundation), a non-governmental educational institution.

“They took over as directors of the private foundation despite being public servants representing the university and in violation without the knowledge of the State government. By starting PUTER Foundation with forged documents, the four directors, including the VC, misused the university infrastructure, misappropriated public funds and caused financial loss to the government,” Elangovan said in his complaint.

In January, the State government had constituted a high-level committee to probe several complaints of irregularities in the university administration, including corruption.

Jagannathan had courted recently a controversy by issuing a memo to a professor for writing and releasing a book on Periyar EV Ramasamy and another book, ‘Macaulay Was an Enemy of Conservative Education’, which triggered condemnation from political parties.