HE was caught by the university's closed-circuit television camera lurking inside a women's toilet in his hostel block.

And was accused of peeping at a woman undergraduate in one of the bathrooms.

But the 23-year-old undergrad, a student leader from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), mantained his innocence.

He claimed he is 'clean', and said: 'People are not interested in the truth anymore but rather in rumours.'

He added that the police have not finished their investigations.

The victim is a slender foreign exchange student with long-hair.

The hostelite was in the shower in a common women's bathroom on the second-floor toilet when she realised somebody was watching her.

She raised the alarm and he ran out of the bathroom.

But a 24-hour closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera on the corridor caught him on tape.

The woman alerted her hall's authorities and the matter was referred to campus security, who identified the peeping Tom and helped her lodge a police report.

Police spokesman Siow Cheng Cheng confirmed that a police report was lodged on 16 Mar.

A 23-year-old suspect was arrested and released on bail the same day.

The police are investigating the case as a potential outrage of modesty, which carries a maximum punishment of a year's jail or a $10,000 fine or both.

The student leader has been booted from his hostel, Hall 8.

He has also been asked to step down from his post and was urged to undergo counselling.

TIGHT SECURITY

A spokesman for the Student Affairs Office (SAO) confirmed the incident.

It said security is tight on the campus, where some 6,000 students live in the university's 15 halls of residence. Of these, about 2,000 are women.

Security measures include round-the-clock patrols by campus wardens on cars, scooters, bicycles and foot.

Surveillance systems such as CCTV cameras and an electronic access control system are also used.

The New Paper understands that Hall 8 itself has 40 closed-circuit TV cameras worth $50,000.

The campus also has a 24-hour security hotline for security matters and services.

In a 2002 Straits Times article, NTU's vice-president of student affairs then, Mr Chong Peng Jek, was quoted as saying that since October 2001, the hall has been fitted with 40 cameras on the walls and ceilings.

He said the cameras cost $50,000.

They were part of the university's efforts to beef up security after a spate of underwear thefts and peeping Tom incidents in the previous two years.

Earlier this month, another male student was caught peeping in a woman's toilet in another of NTU's on-campus hostels.