Shivaji Panikkar, suspended dean of the Fine Arts faculty of Maharaja Sayajirao University, who was attacked by goons allegedly from the Bharatiya Janata Party, at Navranpura on Friday in which he was badly manhandled.

Panikkar's driver was also injured and his car was smashed; he has registered a formal complaint with the police.

"I have registered a complaint for manhandling and physical attack," he told rediff.com over the phone from Vadodara.

He was going to Ahmedabad to inaugurate an exhibition on communal harmony organised by a Delhi-based NGO.

Panikkar had barely arrived at the venue when the attack took place.

"I believe this is a part of the series of incidents that started in the University couple of months ago," he said. He has been leading the students' agitation demanding artistic freedom.

CPM member of Rajya Sabha Nilotpal Basu condemned the incident and said that his party would use the opportunity to raise the issue in the parliament clubbing along with similar incidents.

"We cannot pick up an individual case but we would certainly raise it in a bigger form," he said.