KOCHI: With tension rising at the Cochin University College of Engineering Kuttanad (CUCEK) campus over the “beef row”, authorities have decided to indefinitely close the campus. North Indian students have alleged that they were forcibly fed beef and were assaulted in the campus when they tried to protest.“We have decided to indefinitely close down the campus from today. Meanwhile, we are also trying to resolve the issue,” said Cochin University of Science and Technology vice-chancellor J Letha.The decision to close down CUCEK was taken after talks between the Cusat authorities and striking North Indian students failed on Wednesday. Of the 3500 plus students at CUCEK, around 500 are North Indian students.During the meeting, the VC said that an inquiry will be conducted and a report will be submitted within four days based on which action will be initiated. The students were also told that if they had missed any exam in the last few days, then the university would conduct the exam again and the exams would be conducted only after the inquiry is over. “To ensure a safe environment for the students, they were also promised police security in the campus,” said an official who was present at the meeting.However, the striking students didn’t agree to this and insisted that the college principal Sunil Kumar be immediately suspended for “hurting the religious sentiments of the north Indian students”. Cusat authorities rejected this demand and said that action will be initiated only after an inquiry is conducted into the issue.Tension started at the campus after a digital banking awareness camp conducted at the campus last Thursday. At the camp that was inaugurated by the principal, the organizers offered tea and cutlets. The North Indian students allege that they were fed “beef” in the name of vegetarian cutlets. On Monday, students protested at Cusat and the authorities promised to conduct an inquiry.However, matters turned worse on Tuesday after the North Indian students went in on strike after the talks with faculty and principal to resolve the issue failed. “Few of our friends were assaulted by goons send allegedly by the principal. No one is willing to listen to our woes,” said Ashish Ankit Arvind, third year (Computer science) student at CUCEK.The clash between two groups of students happened at the campus as the North Indian group, tried to disperse students from classrooms. This was opposed by the local students who are in majority at the campus.