Ragging accused escape campus - Cops question principal

Muzaffarpur, Oct. 21: Police today quizzed the principal of Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology (MIT), Dhuruv Prasad, in connection with the alleged ragging of Pankaj Kumar, a first-year student, who fled the institute on Wednesday night.

The police said Prasad refuted Pankaj’s claim that the latter met him with a ragging complaint against his seniors.

Deputy superintendent of police (town), Baccha Singh said the principal said Pankaj had applied for college-leaving certificate to prepare for competitive banking (probationary officer) examinations.

Pankaj, a student of information technology, had claimed in his police complaint that five college seniors ragged him for over seven days (since October 13) after which he decided to leave the college.

The police today conducted a search operation in the hostels to interrogate the five accused.

However, all five seniors have fled the institute fearing trouble after the FIR. Singh said: “The Barhampura police have been asked to procure addresses of the accused from the MIT office.”

Prasad told the police that Pankaj was unable to cope with the study pressure and denied having met the student ever. The police have recorded his statement.

Singh said that Pankaj told him over the phone from Munger that Prasad was lying about the meeting to protect institution and its “wayward” senior students from legal action. Pankaj claimed the principal is hand-in-glove with the tormentors.

The DSP also said Pankaj refuted the principal’s claim of taking bank probationary officer examination as he is not yet a graduate, a criterion for appearing in such tests.