NDTV Correspondent | Updated: April 17, 2012

Kolkata:  Moleculor biologist Partha Sarathi Ray, who has been in jail since April 8 got bail this evening. He was arrested for his alleged role in protests against recent evictions from a slum.

Dr Ray was charged with assaulting policemen during a lathicharge on protestors in Kolkata on April 4.

He says he wasn’t even present during the protests and  was taking classes at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research at Mohanpur in Nadia district, a two-hour drive from Kolkata.

Leading scientists from India and abroad as well as other public personalities wrote letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, condemning the police action against the West Bengal-based scientist.