Pune: The Principal of Fergusson College, who had asked police to take action against those who "raised anti-national slogans" on the campus during a verbal clash between two students' groups, retracted his statement today, saying he had meant to seek a probe into whether such slogans were raised or not.

Yesterday, Principal R G Pardeshi had dashed off a letter to police alleging that "anti-national slogans" were raised during heated exchanges between the two groups when JNU ABVP president Alok Singh was to address college students to explain "Truth of JNU" on the Kanhaiya Kumar episode.