Cracking the whip, the Lucknow University Vice Chancellor R.P.Singh on Wednesday suspended 83 student leaders, mostly belonging to the ruling Samajwadi Party and with alleged criminal backgrounds. He also barred their entry into the campus.

Speaking to newsmen, Singh said he had furnished a list of 83 students to the district administration and asked it to ensure that they did not enter the campus and the hostels.

He said that notices were being issued to these students and they would be asked to reply within three days after which the process of their expulsion would begin.

Signifcantly, a majority of those suspended had association with the ruling Samajwadi Party and several of them had government security.

The university has also mentioned in detail the criminal cases pending against these students which ranged from inciting violence to attempt to murder.

Singh alleged that these students were always heavily armed with the latest weapons.

He said that the university had earlier suspended 52 students with criminal antecedents, taking the total number of suspensions to 135. He said the academic activities would begin only after the university was purged of the criminal elements.

Singh said the decision to close the varsity indefinitely was taken only after it became certain that these student leaders would not allow smooth functioning of the institution.

He also referred to the recent killing of the kidnapped boy, Ankit, in which the names of three varsity students had cropped up and another case of extortion in which two students were arrested by the police.

"I have been hearing that mafia elements have illegally occupied rooms in the hostels," he said adding these students hide their arms in the residence of varsity employees' during the time of police raids.

Singh expressed hope that the administration would cooperate with the varsity in evicting these student leaders from the hostels.

"At least 10 to 12 percent inmates in the varsity hostels have guns and revolvers," Singh alleged.

He termed as 'rubbish', Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's charge that he (Singh) had asked the police to open fire at the protesting students.

Singh said he would review the situation later on Wednesday, keeping in view the apporaching NET examination at the varsity on December 17.

In reply to a question, he said he was ready to face the 'political pressure' but made it clear that he was not going to backtrack.