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Female students of an engineering college in Andhra Pradesh complained to Mines Minister K Ravindra on Friday that the management attempted to hush up the issue of hidden cameras allegedly found in a women's washroom and also went to the extent of threatening students who lodge a complaint over the matter.
Hundreds of students have been staging protests at S R Gudlavalleru Engineering College in Krishna district since Thursday night over the alleged incident.
The students poured out their woes to Ravindra, who reached the college with the district collector and superintendent of police, following instructions from Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.
We (students) don't have faith in the college management as it has been trying to hush up the matter (alleged hidden cameras issue) for the past three days. The college management threatened to act against us if we complain over this issue, said an official statement, quoting the students' complaint to Ravindra.
Demanding justice at any cost, the students vowed not to attend classes until then, while the minister said that truth would come out and the culprits would be punished.
Meanwhile, the chief minister discussed the issue with the district officials and ordered an inquiry into the allegations of hidden cameras found in the girl students' washroom in the college.
If the crime of capturing videos through hidden cameras is proven, then the CM directed officials to take stringent action against the culprits, said an official statement.
In the event of students possessing any evidence regarding the incident, Naidu urged them to share it with him.
A case was registered in connection with the alleged incident. However, the police maintained that there were no such hidden cameras found in the students' washroom.
"No hidden cameras were found in the girls' hostel. No evidence was found. There is no need for the girls to worry over this issue," said an official statement, adding that police checked the laptops, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets of the suspects in the presence of students and college staff.
Krishna district superintendent of police Gangadhar Rao told PTI that confidence building measures were taken and a special team was formed to investigate the allegations.
An inspector has been appointed as the special investigation officer, besides a five-member police technical investigation team.
The probe team has already begun inquiry in the women's hostel.
Ravindra assured the students that tight security measures would be implemented at the hostel to ensure girl students' safety, which will also include assigning one woman constable per floor in the building.
The police are probing if any alleged video was circulated.
Moreover, the district police chief said the gadgets of two students were confiscated for examination.
Earlier, Human Resource Development Minister Nara Lokesh also ordered an inquiry over the alleged incident.
The incident at SR Gudlavalleru Engineering College came to light on Friday, after videos of students protesting late on Thursday went viral.
'I have ordered an enquiry into hidden cameras allegations. Stringent action will be taken against the culprits and people responsible. I directed officials to ensure that these kinds of incidents do not recur in colleges,' said Lokesh in a post on 'X'.