The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, on Wednesday expelled five students (two for two years and three for one) from its hostel in connection with the ragging of a fresher.
The decision was taken at a meeting of IIT disciplinary committee on Tuesday, official sources said.
However, sources in the human resources development ministry expressed "displeasure" over the decision of the committee and asked it to go into the whole issue afresh.
Taking a serious view of the ragging of Prakash Rajpurohit, HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi had earlier asked the IIT authorities to take action against the guilty with a warning that the ministry "may even go to the length of closing down the hostel".
Meanwhile, sources said while the parents of Rajpurohit had taken back the complaints lodged with the authorities, the "guilty" students had also given a written apology.