College students at a private engineering college near Rasipuram, Namakkal have vandalised the college hostel.

According to a report in Deccan Chronicle, the students set their college hostel rooms on fire, threw liquor bottles and damaged cots in rooms.

The report adds that those staying in the hostel of the Muthayammal Engineering College were protesting the suspension of two students. The two students had allegedly got into a fight with the college authorities over the lack of water in the hostel toilets.

The private engineering college at Kakkaveri near Rasipuram has around 4,500 students of which about 780 stay in the hostel. On March 17, Manoj Prasad from Chidambaram and M.Tharun Varshan from Bargur in Krishnagiri, had reportedly abused the hostel warden as there was no water supply in the hostels. They are both third year students. As a result, the college management suspended them.

To protest the suspension, the other hostel students went on a rampage and broke cots and set mattresses in the rooms on fire. They also reportedly threw liquor bottles. The fire was quickly put out, adds the report. The college has now shut the hostel and sent the students back home.

Meanwhile, the Namagiripettai revenue inspector Vijayalakshmi has conducted an inquiry into how liquor bottles were brought into the hostel rooms. He is also investigating whether basic amenities had been provided for the students. The students have alleged that drinking water was available only on the first floor of the five-floor hostel which also lacked basic amenities.