Angul: In the run-up to the students’ union elections in Angul Autonomous College, two warring student groups resorted to violent activities on the campus Wednesday.
Violence erupted on the campus hours after a bust of Mahatma Gandhi was vandalised by miscreants with a bomb explosion late Tuesday night, a report said.
A day before the nomination paper filing process for the elections, the students staged protests by burning tyres and locking the college’s gate.
A group of students feeling insecure and unsafe had earlier demanded scrapping of the elections, it was learnt.
Two complaints have been lodged with the police Wednesday in connection with the locking of the college gate and Gandhi bust vandalism.
According to security guard Lalbhadur Thappa, a bomb exploded at around 11 pm Tuesday when he was in the rear side of the college.
On reaching the spot, he found the bust of Mahatma Gandhi broken with smoke emanating from the spot while two youths had escaped by scaling the boundary wall. A youth was waiting for the two on a bike outside, Thappa recounted.
The bust was split into two pieces.
Tipped off about the agitation at the college, sub-collector Saroj Kant Mohanty, sub-divisional police officer Rabinaryan Deo and IIC Subash Sahu rushed to the spot and tried to convince the agitating students.
On the other hand, the IIC refuted the claim of bomb explosion. “Miscreants had damaged the bust with an iron rod,” he claimed. PNN
