Chennai: Two students of Presidency College were grievously injured after a rival student gang wielding knives set on them inside the college campus on Tuesday, police said.
Around 11.45 am, a gang of around 10 persons brandishing knives cornered Augustine Akash, 20 of Pulianthope and Arun Kumar, 19 of Periyar Nagar and beat them up badly before fleeing.
Augustine suffered injuries on his hands, chest and in the hips while Arun kumar was wounded on his hands. The former is a second year Economics student while the latter is a First year political science student, college authorities said. Anna Square police personnel rushed to the spot and secured the injured boys and rushed to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, where Augustine Akash is likely to be taken for surgery, police said.
The student violence has got so bad that when the police went to clear up the mess on the Kamarajar Salai, some students warned them to leave saying it was "an internal issue" and the cops were not welcome. College principal Prof. M. Mohamed Ibrahim was away attending a meeting at Pallavan House, transport department headquarters, on preventing footboard traveling by students. The college declared a day's holiday following the incident.
Sources said the violence could be fallout of the union elections held about a month back. Also, the two students now attacked belonged to a particular bus route (29-A) while their rivals were from the 6-D bus.
"We have identified some students based on CCTV video footage. The footage also suggests that some outsiders too could have joined in the attack", said a senior profession requesting anonymity.
"Surprisingly, there is no formal complaint from the injured students. But we are confident of securing the attackers", said a police officer.
