Police on Sunday said that they knew of criminal gangs active around the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) campus but found it difficult to move against them.
“We knew that there were gangs active, but police are not allowed inside the campus to get details. No one would even speak to us. Only after Manna Wani case in January, that the police was allowed to enter. That helped with our investigation,” said Aligarh senior superintendent of police (SSP) Rajesh Pandey.
Wani was a research scholar from Jammu and Kashmir who was expelled in January after a photograph appeared on social media showing him holding a grenade launcher and a message claiming that he had joined the militancy.
“Campus students from outside Aligarh told me how these gangsters would threaten them and force them to allow outsiders in their hostel room. There is one more gang operational in the area and we would soon end that also,” the SSP said. They also have connections with local politicians who use them for muscle power, he added.