“We write to express our disappointment over your reported remark describing IIT Madras Director Professor V Kamakoti as a ‘gaumutra expert’. Professor Kamakoti is the head of one of India’s foremost scientific and technological institutions,” the letter said. Kamakoti had courted controversy in January 2025 with his speech during Pongal celebrations at a cow shelter in Chennai. In his speech, Kamakoti narrated the story of a ‘sanyasi’ who, according to him, recovered from high fever after drinking cow urine. Responding to the criticism, Kamakoti had maintained at the time that his comments were based on published scientific literature.