Campus violence: Begunia College Students’ Union president stabbed

BHUBANESWAR: Begunia College Students’ Union president Bhagirathi Swain was stabbed by his rivals in the college premises on Thursday. Classes of the college in Khurda district, 45 km from here, were suspended for two days after the violence.
Police sources said Swain, a plus III final year student of the college, had an altercation with one Abinash Patnaik, a plus III first year student of the same institution, over an old issue related to campus polls which ended on September 23.
The past enmity took an ugly turn on Thursday. Sources said friends of Patnaik suddenly attacked Swain near the principal’s office. Some supporters of Swain also tried to stop the quarrel, but Abinash’s groups overpowered Swain’s friends. “One of them stabbed me in the chest during the scuffle. My friend is also injured in the attack,” said Swain.
Following the incident, Swain was rushed to the district headquarters hospital at Khurda. Their condition was stable. “The duo received minor injuries. Both the groups lodged separate complaints with Begunia police limits after the incident. We are investigating into the matter,” said Pramod Samantaray, additional SP (Khurda).
Pramod Dash, principal of the college, said two different student groups clashed with each other inside the campus over past enmity. Their rivalry had started during the time of students’ union polls, he added.
“Keeping the student unrest in mind, the college committee has decided to suspend classes for two days. As the examinations of plus III students is going to begin from Monday, we have decided to commence the classes from Monday,” he added.