Raju Gaikwad, Balasaheb Nagargoje, Sanjay Jadhav and 31 others, all students of the now-defunct Gajanan Maharaj College in Buldhana, had come to Mumbai to seek redress from the state education department after the district authorities failed to take any action against the college. From the first to the sixth of this month the whole group went on a hunger strike, with the result that 10 of them were hospitalised. However, there was no intervention from the state government even at that stage, they alleged.

Frustrated by the lack of concern shown by the authorities Raju, Balasaheb and Sanjay on Thursday decidedthey had had enough. The trio went out for a walk in the afternoon on Thursday, bought a vial of rat poison and consumed it on their way back. They collapsed as soon as they reached their camp at Azad Maidan and their friends rushed them to GT hospital with the help of the police.

At the hospital today Raju fought back his tears as he recounted the sorry tale that has not only sealed the fate of 53 students, but has also plunged their families into a deep financial crisis. Raju's parents, who are farm labourers, had arranged for his admission fee of nearly Rs 18,000 by taking loans from local money lenders. ``I had hoped to repay the loan after taking up a job,'' he said. His dreams were dashed when he got the result of his first-year examination in August last year. The marks-sheet, to his shock, bore the name of a certain Bhartiya Shiksha Parishad based in Uttar Pradesh! Enquiries later revealed that there was no such institute in existence in UP.

When they enrolled in the college for the two-year DEd(Diploma in Education) course in 1997, they had been told by its director, S S Kale, that the course was government approved. The district education officer P H Gurav allegedly assured them of the veracity of Kale's claim. Raju now doesn't want to go back to his village in Jalgaon district where children used to call him ``Masterji'' until two months ago. ``It is not that I don't want to live, but how can I possibly show my face back home? What is the use of living like this?'' Raju cried. Balasaheb, lying on the cot nearby, muttered something incoherent. Under heavy medication, Balasaheb had not of sound mind since morning.

Jadhav claimed they took the extreme step in the hope that it would at least speed up the search for a solution and added that he would not go back to his village in Aurangabad district until the issue was sorted out.Jadhav's mates endorse his view. ``How can we go back after we have thrown our families into huge debts?'' said Bharat Morde, whose parents work in a sugarcane factory. Hehad taken a loan of Rs 10,000 from his parents' employers. ``Now they have been asked to work for six months without pay to repay the debt. All this because of me,'' he cried.

Minister of State for Education Anil Deshmukh, meanwhile, today called Buldhana district education officer P H Gurav for a meeting on Monday. While institute officials had allegedly told students that the course was being conducted under the aegis of the Pune University, Deshmukh clarified that universities had nothing to do with DEd courses. Admissions for DEd courses are centralised, the minister explained, and the forms are given out at the zilla parishad. ``This institute gave out the forms itself. Students should have realised they were being taken for a ride then itself,'' he said.