Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 31 (IANS): 10 days after Shankar Mohan, the Director of K. R. Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts (KRNNIVSA), resigned from his post, the Chairman of the institute - acclaimed award winning director Adoor Gopalakrishnan, on Tuesday, put in his papers too.

Mohan quit after a 48-day protest by students alleging caste discrimination, anti-student actions and ill-treatment of staff was happening at the institute based in Kottayam.

The acclaimed film maker told the media here that the previous night, he was in a conversation with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for a long time and decided to step down as the chairman of the institute.

"I have decided to step down as I now feel that Mohan was unnecessarily pushed out. I don't think that any sort of caste discrimination ever took place. A probe should be undertaken to find out who were behind the protests. Mohan did everything what he could do towards the institute and it is unfortunate that he had to make such an exit," said Adoor.

Meanwhile, the employees at the institute said that Mohan's behaviour was unacceptable but Adoor said that the stories that are now doing the rounds are baseless and unfounded and such things have never happened.

This institute was opened during the tenure of the Oommen Chandy-led Congress government during 2011-16 and from then, there were issues with regard to the overall running of the institute.