300 obscene videos found in laptop? What Andhra Pradesh Police said on girls' washroom 'hidden camera' case | 10 updates

Students gathered at SR Gudlavalleru Engineering College in Krishna district demanding strict action against those behind the hidden camera.

A massive protest has erupted after a hidden camera was allegedly found inside a girl's hostel washroom at an engineering college in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna. Female students of SR Gudlavalleru Engineering College in Krishna district complained to mines minister K Ravindra on Friday that the management attempted to hush up the issue and also went to the extent of threatening students who lodge a complaint over the matter. 

Students protest outside Gudlavalleru College of Engineering at Gudivada in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. (HT photo)

Hundreds of students have been staging protests at since Thursday night over the alleged incident. The students poured out their woes to K Ravindra, who reached the college with the district collector and superintendent of police, following instructions from chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

News18 reported that the Andhra Pradesh Police has identified and detained the accused, Vijay, who was a student of the same college. His laptop was seized and nearly 300 obscene videos were recovered, which the police suspected he sold to other students that were reportedly circulated in the boys later. 

Hidden camera found in girls' washroom in Andhra Pradesh: 10 updates

1. The camera, placed inside the campus hostel of Gudlavalleru College of Engineering, was found by one of the students, reported India Today.  
2. Hundreds of students gathered at the college demanding justice and calling for strict action against those behind the hidden camera and involved in circulating the videos.
3. The students vowed not to attend classes until the administration met their demands, while minister K Ravindra said truth would come out and the culprits would be punished. 
4. Chief minister discussed the issue with the district officials and ordered an inquiry into the allegations of hidden cameras found in the girl students' washroom in the college. 
5. In the event of students possessing any evidence regarding the incident, Naidu urged them to share it with him. 
6. However, the police maintained that there were no such hidden cameras found in the students' washroom. "No hidden cameras were found in the girls' hostel. No evidence was found. There is no need for the girls to worry over this issue," said an official statement, adding that police checked the laptops, mobile phones and other electronic gadgets of the suspects in the presence of students and college staff. 
7. Krishna district superintendent of police Gangadhar Rao told news agency PTI that confidence building measures were taken up and a special team has been formed to investigate the allegations. An inspector has been appointed as the special investigation officer, besides a five-member police technical investigation team. 
8. The police are probing if any alleged video was circulated. Moreover, the district police chief said the gadgets of two students were confiscated for examination. 
9. Human resource development minister Nara Lokesh also ordered an inquiry over the alleged incident. 
10. YS Sharmila Reddy, chief of the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, has expressed anger over the incident and demanded immediate action against the culprits and the college management.

(With inputs from agencies)