Lucknow, Dec. 13: Armed with an Allahabad High Court order stripping student leaders of their security guards, Lucknow University vice-chancellor R.K. Sharma today suspended around 80 student leaders for their alleged involvement in vandalism on campus.

Sharma also directed the university administration to bar their entry into hostels as he continued his “war against antisocial elements on the campus”.

The 80-odd student leaders, owing allegiance to different political parties, had allegedly destroyed furniture, dismantled the gate and tried to force students to participate in a demonstration against the vice-chancellor on the afternoon of December 7.

The protest was staged against the university authorities’ bid to formulate a model code of conduct framed on the basis of the Lyngdoh Committee’s recommendations for student polls.

The code called for a ban on muscle power on campus and restricted college poll expenses to Rs 5,000.

The students hit the streets and looted shops at Hazratganj, a business district, where police had to resort to a lathicharge to disperse them.

Student leaders, who control the 12 hostels of the university, have been allegedly smuggling weapons into the campus and forcing students to cast votes in their favour. They were also accused of using armed bodyguards to spread terror on the campus.

Those suspended today include the vice-president of the students’ union, Brajesh Yadav, general secretary Vinod Tripathi and two leaders affiliated to the Samajwadi Party, Tej Narayan Pandey and Ram Singh Rana.

“This is a time to say a firm ‘no’ to goondaism on the campus,” Sharma said. “I will not budge an inch from my mission to cleanse the campus of antisocial elements.”