Motihari, Dec. 28: The three Motihari Engineering College students who were expelled for ragging a junior have accused a former official of the institute of falsely implicating them for protesting against irregularities on the campus.

Vivek Kumar, Gaurav Kumar and Rachna Bharti were recently punished for allegedly ragging a first-year student, Monika Shailesh. The action against the trio was taken following a reference by the college recommendation com-mittee and the direction of the science and technology department.

Gaurav, however, alleged that the probe report against him and two of his peers was “one-sided”. He told The Telegraph from Patna: “We have been victimised by the former officer-on-special duty (OSD) and in-charge of the principal’s office, S.N. Ojha, for raising voice over issues that affected the students.”

“Every time we staged demonstrations in the students’ interest, district administration officials intervened on behalf of the college and pacified us. We had also apprised chief minister Nitish Kumar about our problems during his Vishwas Yatra in April 2010. During a function on the local zilla school ground, we told him about the lack of buses and hostels at the institute and examination centres in Muzaffarpur. We are now paying the price,” Gaurav added.

The student said Nitish had asked the chief secretary to look into their grievances and find amicable solutions. He added: “Our expulsion is the handiwork of Ojha because of the frequent protests by the students.”

Rachna, another expelled student, also claimed she was implicated.

The three students are now mulling legal action to defend their case. “I met science and technology department director Bhagwan Singh yesterday. He suggested us to seek Monika’s views if we want any legal relief,” Gaurav said.

On the other hand, when The Telegraph tried to contact Monika on the phone, a person received the call and identified himself as her father. “My daughter has nothing to do with the incident. Whatever has happened, it is because of the former OSD,” he said, refusing to divulge his name.

Though Ojha could not be contacted, his successor, A.K. Mishra, said the three students were expelled following the consent of the science and technology department.

Mishra had replaced Ojha immediately after the ragging incident had rocked the college campus in October. The three students were expelled earlier this week.