ROURKELA: At least 15 students were injured in a clash between two groups of Indian and Afghan students at National Institute of Technology (NIT).

One student has been admitted to hospital for treatment after the clash late on Saturday night while others were discharged after first aid.

Security on the NIT campus has been beefed up and all 23 Afghan students staying on the institute campus have been shifted to another place to prevent further confrontation.

Sources said at about 10 pm on Saturday, a group of third year students wanted to go out of the institute to have dinner after a cultural programme at the institute. The programme was held as part of the three-day NIT annual event ‘NITRAUTSAV’, which began on Friday. Looking for a mode of transport, the students noticed an auto rickshaw coming from the opposite side and intercepted it. The vehicle was ferrying four second year Afghan students of the institute. Since the students were in a hurry to go out, they directed the Afghan students to get off the rickshaw and walk down to their hostels. But the foreign students refused to obey the orders, following which a clash ensued between the two groups.

The row took a serious turn when the Afghan students, who were attacked by their seniors, went back to their hostels and returned with more students and the clash escalated. In the entire fiasco, 15 students including four Afghan students were injured.

NIT authorities learnt about the clash at about 2 am, following which they informed police. A police team arrived subsequently and has started an investigation into the incident. “Besides deploying a police force, it was decided to shift all 23 Afghan students from the NIT campus in a bid to avoid further confrontation,” Rourkela additional SP Sudersan Sethi said.