The eight expelled students are: Abdullah Al-Mamun, Sanzida Naima, Faisal Ali, Ujjal Kumar, Rakibul Islam, Shah Newaz Shathil, Amir Sohel and Shapla Rani. The suspended employee of the department is field assistant Masud Rana.

The syndicate also issued a show-cause notice to Masud Rana asking why he should not be fired.

All the eight students are first year honours students of the department who got admitted to the honours course of 2006-07 academic session, campus sources said.

Sources said Masud made arrangements for the eight students' admission to the department even though they failed to qualify in the admission test for first year honours course 2006-07 session. They said Masud gained Tk 2 lakh for getting them admitted there.

Earlier, a five-member probe body headed by Prof Khalequzzaman of the Department of Zoology investigated the alleged admission forgeries and submitted its report on June 1 to the RU vice-chancellor on completion of their two-month-long probe.

Prof Abdus Sobhan, an RU syndicate member, yesterday said the expulsions were exemplary punishments. "No one will think about getting involved in admission forgery in future," he stated.

A syndicate member said they also directed the RU Disciplinary Committee to take actions against a number of students and student leaders who were found to be involved in admission forgery in the report submitted by the probe committee.

On May 20, students of the social work department staged demonstrations on the campus protesting against the admission of the eight students. They also refrained from taking their scheduled classes and exams to press home their demand for punishment to the people involved in the forgery.

RU Vice-Chancellor Prof Altaf Hossain said the university authorities reviewed the probe committee report and decided to expel the students and suspend the employee involved.