By Express News Service

ALAPPUZHA: The bizarre row over beef cutlets at Cochin University College of Engineering in Pulinkunnu turned violent after agitating students tried to disrupt classes on Tuesday. While students from other states tried to strike and disperse students from classrooms, Malayali students blocked the move, which resulted in an altercation. According to Pulinkunnu SI S Nissam, some students suffered minor injuries in the clash. Policemen from nearby stations reached the spot and settled the issue.

However, students from other states have decided to approach the Cusat vice-chancellor on Wednesday.

“We had staged a peaceful agitation, but Malayali students attacked us,” said Ratandeep Ravi, an IT student from Bihar. “One student suffered a head injury, while another sustained a chest injury in the attack. Harsh Kumar from Bihar and Kancha Singh from West Bengal suffered injuries. We left the Pulinkunnu campus for the main campus after they unleashed the attack. We will stage an agitation at the main campus in Kochi on Wednesday.”

It all started when a private seminar on digital banking was organised by a retired bank employees’ forum at the college on January 25. At the end of the seminar, snacks were served along with tea. The organisers had clearly indicated that both vegetarian and non-vegetarian cutlets were on offer. However, some of the students allegedly ate the beef cutlets and later claimed that the college authorities had served beef cutlets in the guise of vegetarian ones to hurt their religious sentiments.

According to the police, the controversy was created as a tit-for-tat response. On January 22, students from other states had staged a Saraswati pooja after a strike, which did not go down well with the principal and the college staff. It was the main reason for the rift between the students from other states and the college authorities.

Principal N Sunil Kumar claimed that the issue was a deliberate attempt to defame the college.

The seminar organisers had clearly indicated the serving of non-vegetarian cutlets, but students from other states are trying to create tension in the college campus in the name of a baseless allegation, he clarified on social media.