The Ankit Desai murder case prompted Calcutta University (CU) on Monday to order an inquiry into the working of its affiliated colleges in Calcutta, with reports reaching the institution that Bhawanipur Education Society (BES), a CU affiliate, has been allowing enrolment of ?external? students.

A preliminary inquiry by the university has revealed that BES has no ?authority? to take in external candidates, CU officers said. The university?s attention was drawn to this ?anomaly? by police reports after Ankit Desai?s relatives told the police that the young man had enrolled himself as an ?external? student in BES to appear in the university?s B.Com examinations.

?We have a list of colleges with whom we have entrusted the responsibility of enrolling private students on the university?s behalf. Only these colleges are authorised by the university to distribute examination forms to candidates wanting to appear in the university?s BA, B.Sc and B.Com examinations as external examinees. Bhawanipur Education Society is not included on the list,? said Suranjan Das, CU pro vice-chancellor (academic affairs).

?We are conducting an inquiry to verify the authenticity of the statement of the murdered youth?s relatives, who have claimed that he was an external B.Com student of the college. We are not going to allow any college to enrol private students if it is not on the list prepared by us,? Das stressed.

The university, during the inquiry, will also examine whether any of these colleges are allowing external students to enter the campus on a regular basis, because according to the university?s rules, external students are debarred from regularly entering the premises.

Dipak Sarkar, principal, BES, said the youths involved in the murder, including Ankit, had no association with his institution. ?It is unfortunate that a young boy lost his life in this way,? he added, but refused to elaborate on the issue.

According to police reports, Shyam Karia, the presumed killer, is also a dropout of the same college.

Replacing its traditional centralised system of distributing examination and registration forms to external examinees through the university?s sales counter on its main campus on College Street, university officers last year engaged some undergraduate colleges in the city to enrol external candidates. The university has asked colleges once again to beef up security on their campuses.