Drug situation grave at IIT-Kanpur, says DM

KANPUR: Admitting that the situation was grave at IIT-K and students were indeed consuming drugs, district magistrate Surendra Singh said a team was working on the case even as raids had started. Last week, IIT-K director had written to Singh, seeking help to end the drug menace on the campus.

"For an institution like IIT, the situation is serious. A large number of students are affected by the use of drugs. We have asked IIT-K director to provide clues to us and we would take action," Singh said.

He said, "We have specific inputs that private security guards on the campus are part of the nexus. Security in charge of the institute told us that a guard was terminated from job after there were allegations of his involvement in drug menace. We are trying to find who are the insiders facilitating the drug business or are involved in this business."

"We have suspicion over a few security personnel, temporary staff and locals staying on the campus. Soon we will have leads in this case. A team is working on the case," he added.

"Consumers of drugs are on the campus and they do not go out anywhere. We have asked the institute administration to keep wardens alert and watch the activities and report to us. We have also conducted raids at the medical and grocery stores situated at the IIT gate and this drive will go on," Singh said. The DM said that if the students who had cracked one of the toughest examination and reached IIT were unable to decide what was right or wrong then the situation was horrible.

Meanwhile, raids were conducted at two medical stores located near IIT-K gate on Sunday to check if they were selling unapproved drugs.