Behrampore, Aug. 6: Around 1,000 students of a boys’ high school at Dhulian in Murshidabad district went on a rampage for over an hour this morning following a rumour of a student’s death in a road accident.

Wasiful Ali Ansari, 11, a Class V student of Dhulian Kanchantala High School was hit by a tonga when he was cycling to school from his Kamatpara residence in Dhulian town, about 280 km from Calcutta, around 10.30 am.

The bleeding boy was rushed to a nursing home with serious head injuries but is stable. However, a rumour spread that he had died on the spot.

When news of the incident reached students of the school, they went on a rampage, destroying five tongas near the Dhulian market and setting ablaze a few shops and houses. They also set a bus belonging to an NTPC school at Farakka on fire.

Officials from the Samshergunge police station arrived on the scene around 11 am, but they were outnumbered by the students who were also joined by other people.

District superintendent of police Neeraj Singh said 16 persons have been arrested and prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC promulgated in the town. “We shall arrest those detained if they are found to be involved in the arson and violence,” he said, adding that police are on the lookout for those who spread the rumour.

“The students, along with outsiders, also ransacked Dhulian municipality chairperson Chenbanu Khatoon’s office,” Singh said.

All the five schools in the Dhulian town were closed for the day and students sent home under police escort. Shops and business establishments also downed shutters.

Subrata Kundu, teacher-in-charge of the school, said the students should not have reacted “so violently” on the basis of a rumour. “They should have cross-checked with the nursing home authorities before resorting to violence.”

However, the students said it was an “outburst of their pent-up feelings”. “We have been demanding the removal of the tonga shed and the sex workers’ colony located near the school. But the administration has been looking the other way,” said Rizuanul Haque, a Class IX student.