Patna: Eight students were arrested during late-night raids at Patna University’s Minto Hostel on Thursday, as police cracked down on escalating clashes between rival groups ahead of the Feb 28 PUSU elections. Heavy security has been deployed across the campus to prevent further violence.According to the police, the election atmosphere has turned volatile, with rival groups engaging in clashes for dominance and creating an atmosphere of confrontation across the university ahead of the Patna University Students’ Union (PUSU) elections. After receiving information on Wednesday, forces from several nearby police stations, including Pirbahore, along with additional personnel from Police Lines, were rushed to the premises.City superintendent of police (Central) Bhanu Pratap Singh, who led the operation, said raids were conducted in multiple hostels to prevent any untoward incidents. He added that complaints regarding group clashes had been pouring in for some time, and the administration decided to act decisively to maintain peace and order.“The intensive search operation conducted late at night at Minto Hostel led to the arrest of eight students. All of them were found in an intoxicated state after consuming alcohol. The detained students are Sahil Kumar alias Vishnu, Lalit Siddharth, Ayush Kumar, Atul Kumar, Arun Kumar, Gunjan Kumar, Makardhwaj Upadhyay and Rohit Kumar. Among them, one has a prior criminal record involving a bomb-related case registered at Pirbahore police station,” the SP said.Singh added that the arrested students are being questioned and further legal proceedings are underway. “Further investigation is in progress,” he said.The university administration said ensuring a peaceful and fair election process remains its top priority. Additional police forces have been deployed across the campus, and the situation is being continuously monitored.Nearly 20,000 eligible voters will cast their votes for key posts—including president, vice-president, general secretary, joint secretary, treasurer and councillors—on Feb 28. Police confirmed that raids and monitoring across hostels will continue in the coming days to curb unlawful activities and ensure a disruption-free election period.Meanwhile, tensions further escalated in the PUSU election buzz after presidential candidate Anchal Kumar was detained by police outside Patna Women’s College (PWC) on Thursday. The detention followed a dispute over the allotment of tickets by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).Kumar, who had filed his nomination, allegedly questioned ABVP’s decision to award the presidential ticket to another female candidate. Following this, he and his supporters reportedly created a ruckus at the ABVP office, protesting the denial of the ticket despite their prior nomination efforts.ABVP officials alerted the police about the disturbance at their office, after which a team detained Kumar from outside PWC—one of the key centres of student activity under Patna University.
