Muzaffarpur, Jan. 18: Students of Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology (MIT) boycotted classes today to protest the assault of their fellow pupils by a group of trainee sub-inspectors on Monday evening.

A source said 10 students and five trainee sub-inspectors sustained injuries in the clash.

The protesting students, led by Ashish Kumar, Satish Kumar and Ashutosh Ranjan, locked the gates of the institute and forced teachers and employees, who reside in official quarters on the campus, to remain indoors.

The protesters also met principal Dhruv Prasad this morning to lodge their protest and requested him to seek the intervention of the district magistrate Anand Kishore and senior superintendent of police Sunil Kumar to take action against the trainee sub-inspectors who beat up the students. They have also demanded immediate intervention of chief minister Nitish Kumar and director-general of police Neel Mani.

The injured students also submitted a signed petition to the principal, requesting him to lodge an FIR against the trainee sub-inspectors.

Kumar said the altercation started as the students and trainee sub-inspectors had disagreed over withdrawing money from an automatic teller machine at Laxmi Chowk. The disagreement soon turned into a pitched fight, Kumar said.

Kumar said he asked DSP (east) Shibli Nomani to probe the incident and initiate action against the erring party. The injured students have been admitted at a private hospital, the cops are undergoing treatment at Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital. The condition of two trainee sub-inspectors Mohammed Mustafa Ansari and Ranjit Kumar is said to be serious.