Problems at Patna University (PU) hostels resurfaced on Sunday with criminals allegedly firing shots at a superintendent’s quarters to terrorise him for vacating the students’ accommodation according to the varsity order.

BN College hostel superintendent D.N. Sinha was at his home — at the students’ hostel on upscale Ashok Rajpath — around 8 on Sunday morning when he claimed to have heard a gunshot.

“At first I thought it was a cracker. But I could not spot fireworks outside. The sounds I heard were similar to gunshots,” said Sinha, who has been allegedly getting threat calls for the past two days for evacuating the college hostels.

Police did not find any empty cartridge or signs of shots being fired when they turned up at the spot to investigate. But they have registered a complaint.

The superintendent said: “The boarders of the hostels were asked to move out according to the instruction of the university to carry out repair work. The three blocks of the hostel were empty by June 1. But since Friday, I have been getting threat calls on my cellphone. The callers have been threatening me with dire consequences.”

The callers also accused Sinha of being overeager to fulfil his duties, as the PU postgraduate hostels at Saidpur, Rani Ghat and Hathua — rooms of which are mostly occupied by illegal boarders — have not been vacated.

The postgraduate hostels have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. On December 27 last year, a 25-year-old history student of PU was found dead at Saidpur Hostel Number-2 after a late-night liquor session with two CRPF jawans and an unidentified person in his room.

The victim, Dilip Kumar, was also an illegal resident. A number of suspects were arrested but the case is yet to be cracked.

Sinha did not report the threat calls but the “shots” on Sunday morning were far too serious for him and the college administration to take lightly. BN College principal P.K. Poddar filed an FIR with the Pirbhore police station.

Poddar was not available for comment but Sinha said the principal had requested the police to investigate the matter.

The police, however, were flummoxed when they turned up at Ashok Rajpath to investigate.

“Based on the complaint lodged with us, the police visited the spot. But we did not find any empty cartridge,” said Rehmat Ali, the station house officer of Pirbhore police station.

He added that a case had been lodged based on the college administra- tion’s complaint.

PU sources said evacuating boarders from hostels during zero session (when classes are suspended for summer vacations) has always been a headache for the varsity administration. The zero session begins on June 1 and ends with the month.

This year, the boarders of the hostels at Saidpur, Rani Ghat and Hathua did not vacate their rooms. But the four hostels of Patna Science College and an equal number of students’ accommodation at Patna College have been vacated. No major repair work has been undertaken at any of the hostels, though.

“It is difficult to carry out any major renovation or repair in a month. But furniture has been repaired and water storage facility has been installed at Minto, Jackson, Iqbal and New Hostel of Patna College,” said the principal of Patna College, Lal Keshwar Prasad Singh.