A burnt bicycle on the Aligarh Muslim University campus; (below) Rapid Action Force personnel on guard. Picture by Satendra Kulshreshtha

Lucknow, Sept. 17: Aligarh Muslim University was shut down indefinitely today after students protesting a campus murder torched a part of the vice-chancellor’s residence.

Mazhar Naeem was attacked by unidentified assailants near his hostel around 11pm last night and collapsed on the spot, police said.

The BSc second-year student was declared brought dead at the local Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College.

The body was later sent to his hometown in nearby Meerut. This is the third killing on the campus this year.

As word about Mazhar’s death spread, hundreds of students went on the rampage, setting fire to the vice-chancellor P. K. Abdul Aziz’s drawing room and breaking furniture. Aziz was not at home during the attack.

“The blaze spread as fire tenders arrived only about half an hour after the arson began at 2am. The flames were brought under control later but a lot of books and articles in his drawing room were burnt,” a university official said.

The protesters’ next target was the staff club and the employees’ canteen. “The science block bears telltale marks of the vandalism. Half-burnt books and broken furniture are still lying there,” an employee said. The proctor’s office was not spared either.

This morning, the university’s executive council decided to set up a committee to probe the causes of the violence, including the murder of students, that has rocked the campus in the past year. The panel, to be headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, has been asked to submit its report in six months.

By evening, the campus resembled a police barracks with the Rapid Action Force and other units of the police on guard. Students have been asked to vacate the hostels within 48 hours.

G.K. Tandon, special secretary in the home department, said the special task force was helping the police with the probe. “The campus situation is tense but calm. The extent of the damage is being assessed.”

The university has asked for a CBI probe, Tandon said, but the government has yet to take a decision.

AMU spokesman Rahat Abrar said the motive behind the killing is not known.

Raghuvir Lal, Meerut’s senior superintendent of police, said Mazhar had sustained multiple injuries on the head and neck.

Special secretary Tandon said the nature of injuries showed that Mazhar had been attacked with “blunt” objects.

A. N. Singh, an Aligarh police officer. said the investigators were looking at “all possible angles”.

On April 8, Mohammad Saquib was shot dead on the campus. Some two weeks later, unidentified assailants killed Quasal Faliq. Four arrests have been made in the two cases. Former vice-chancellor Nasim Ahmed had resigned in the wake of the trouble that continued till Aziz took charge.

Classmates said they did not know if Mazhar had enemies but complained that the hostels had become a den for criminals.

“We don’t know if Mazhar had enemies. But we feel insecure on the campus as the hostels have become a hub of anti-social activities,” said M. K. Hasan, a second-year BSc student from Kanpur.

Lucknow University had to be shut down last December after trouble over the postponement of union polls.

University authorities had said the tough measures were aimed at shutting students with alleged criminal connections out of the polls.