Chennai, Oct. 26: A 22-year-old youth from Guwahati taking a tea break outside his college in Chennai was stabbed to death by another student from the Assam capital this morning.

Yesterday, another student from Assam’s Dibrugarh district, pursuing an engineering degree at a college in Chidambaram, 220km from Chennai, was clubbed to death by two of his classmates from Bihar.

If a sudden skirmish triggered yesterday’s murder, personal enmity seemed to be today’s motive.

Madhurjya Talukdar, a fourth year computer science student of Hindustan College of Engineering, was at a teashop outside the college campus around 2.30am when Nabajyoti Kakati, a 26-year-old BBA student of an arts college run by the same institute, walked up to him for a round of confrontation.

Nabajyoti accused Madhurjya of spreading rumours about him.

“A heated argument followed and suddenly Nabajyoti pulled out a knife and stabbed Madhurjya in the chest and stomach,” said a police official.

Madhurjya’s friends rushed him to a private hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Son of Akshya Talukdar, a doctor, Madhurjya was a resident of Jayanagar.

A caller who identified himself as Madhurjya’s friend called his eldest sister, Namrata, who lives in Bangalore, around 3 this morning to say he was attacked.

“We got three missed calls in quick succession around 3am. As it was very late we were reluctant to receive any call from an unknown number. When the phone rang for the fourth time my husband received it and was informed by the caller that Madhurjya had been attacked and asked a member of the family to reach there immediately,” said Namrata.

Since she is in an advanced stage of pregnancy, her mother Anima has been staying with her.

Both her husband and mother left for Chennai after receiving the call.

“Later, I called one of Madhurjya’s friends, who informed me that his condition was serious as he had received multiple injuries in the chest and it had affected his lungs. We are shocked. He called me around 6pm last evening and said his practical exams were over and he would be studying for his theory papers,” said Namrata.

Relatives and friends began pouring into Madhurjya’s residence in Guwahati after receiving the news. “His father got a call from Namrata and he left for Chennai by a noon flight,” said Bibha Saikia, Madhurjya’s cousin.

“He had called his father around 8pm and said he would go out for a cup of tea and then resume his studies after coming back,” said Bibha.

“It has come as a shock. He was my junior in school and he is also my neighbour here. He was a good student,” said Deep Singh about Madhurjya, who completed his Class X board examination from Don Bosco High School in 2006.

Nabajyoti’s mother Nilima Kakati learnt about the incident only from television news and nobody from Chennai has contacted them so far.

Nabajyoti was arrested from his residence in Chennai after the police were informed about the stabbing.

“We spoke to him at around 10pm last night but he did not speak about any tension. He spoke about the India-England cricket match and about his examination starting from November 5. But in the morning we saw television news about the incident but no one has contacted us so far. We are constantly trying to get in contact with him and the police there,” Kakati said at their Narikelbari residence.

Nabajyoti passed his Higher Secondary exams from B. Borooah College in Guwahati before he went to Chennai to pursue a BBA.

According to a relative, his father, Kalindra, who retired as the deputy general manager of the Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited, is bedridden as he underwent a surgery a few days ago.

“We are very nervous after the incident and are trying to contact people there and want to leave for Chennai tomorrow,” Nabajyoti’s mother said.