A gay professor of modern languages at an Indian university has been found dead after being exposed by students who broke in to his home and filmed him with his partner.

Professor Srinivas Ramchander Siras

Siras was expected to return to his job later this month after a court revoked his suspension and ordered him to be reinstated. However, he has now been found dead in his home and detectives believe he took his own life.

Gay rights campaigners say the students and the media drove Siras to his death and Prince Manvendra Singh, India's first openly gay royal, says the professor's death is akin to murder. "These people need to be taken to task. What right did they have to attack his privacy? It was private, consensual sex and these students and television people got him to commit suicide," he said. 

Homosexuality is no longer illegal in India, after a 148-year old law was struck off the statutes in July last year.