The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo motu cognisance of the death of Professor H S Sabharwal in Ujjain and has sought a report from the Madhya Pradesh government.

The human rights panel has asked the chief secretary and the director-general of police of Madhya Pradesh to look into the matter and send a report to it within 15 days, the NHRC said in a statement.

The commission, after going through the contents of media reports, noted that they raise the issue of serious violation of human rights of the citizens.

Prof Sabharwal died on August 26 after he was allegedly manhandled by students belonging to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad while supervising student's union elections at Madhav College in Ujjain.

The commission also took cognisance of media reports that said the police present at the incident site did not take any action to save the teachers and prevent the situation from turning ugly.

The NHRC noted that it had also received a complaint from the deceased's son Himanshu Sabharwal on the incident, alleging that the police had tampered with the evidence and was protecting the guilty.