Silchar, Sept. 1: The menace of ragging has reared its head once again at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) here.

Two students of the institute were yesterday rusticated for seriously injuring a fresher on the night of August 26.

Sources said K.M. Mehdi Hafiz Laskar, a first-year student of electrical engineering, was hospitalised after being roughed up by the two seniors in Hostel 5.

The errant students had tried to hush up things by giving their victim first aid and warning him against lodging a complaint with the authorities. However, the incident was out in the open the next day. Laskar is undergoing treatment in the ENT department of Silchar Medical College.

An official said freshers at the institution, formerly known as the Regional Institute of Technology, Silchar, had reported three major incidents of ragging and “indecent torture” over the past week. He said the college authorities had launched a drive against all forms of ragging and the decision to expel the two third-semester students was part of it.

The director of NIT, Col. J.S. Virk, told The Telegraph that expulsion notices would be handed over to the errant students “in a day or two”. He said a series of steps had been taken to prevent and deal with ragging, and an “anti-ragging committee”, comprising senior teachers, had been entrusted to deal with the menace.

Sources said Amrik Sen from Orissa, an NIT student, had fled the institute after being harassed by some senior students. Raja Raman, another student, had been subjected to “indecent” ragging a few days ago. Col. Virk said there was no question of being lenient towards students indulging in ragging.

BSF men drown: Two BSF personnel, a havildar and a sub-inspector, drowned in the swollen Kinnarkhal near the Indo-Bangla border in Cachar district’s Kathigorah block on Saturday night.

Sources said the BSF men were patrolling the border lake when the mishap took place. The boat in which the deceased were patrolling the lake, along with three others, capsized under the impact of strong currents. The victims are Jagadish Chand and Vinode Kumar. A post-mortem was performed at Karimganj civil hospital.

Barak inspection: India and Bangladesh jointly inspected the point of bifurcation of Barak river into Surma and Kushiyara rivers on Sunday, reports our Shillong correspondent.

The inspection was made to ensure fair and equitable distribution of water. The teams also discussed conducting a model study with the data available in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh high commissioner T.K. Haidar headed their team, while the home side was led by P.K. Das, secretary, Assam flood control department.