Eight members of gang held

Eight members of a gang, including three former students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) allegedly involved in crimes in and around the campus have been arrested here, police said today.

The arrests were made yesterday. Among those arrested three were former students of the AMU who were responsible for nearly a dozen cases of heinous crime in and around the AMU campus during the past six months, they said.

This includes cases of attempt to murder and loot, they said.

Members of this gang also allegedly threatened a top AMU official earlier this year and some leaders of the AMU Students Union.

The same group was responsible for an incident of violence last Wednesday in which an AMU student was injured in firing.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Rajesh Pandey said gang members allegedly used to terrorise students and also some members of the staff.

"The same gang was responsible for an attack on the office of a former president of the AMU Students Union on November 16 last," he said.

Pandey said that he had written to AMU authorities seeking "more co-operation" from them for preventing such criminal elements from taking shelter in some university hostels.

Those arrested include the leader of the gang Faisal Khan and Mohammad Suhaib, Salman, Dipanshu Srivastava, Rajat Singh, Ritik, Mumtaz Alam, Akram and Suraj Kumar, who is lab technician in AMU.

A search is on for four other members of the gang who are absconding, the police said.