Imphal: At least eight members of Manipur University community were injured when police fired tear gas shells at them in front of the university gate on Monday.

The incident took place when protesters, shouting: "Save Manipur University", "Make the VC in-charge functional" and "Save Manipur students", tried to come out of the campus.

The university community alleged that the protest was planned by the government to sabotage their demand to oust vice-chancellor Adya Prasad Pandey.

N. Sanatomba of Manipuri department said: "The government hired people to organise a rally outside the gate. Why did the police fire tear gas shells? This is shameful."

"Eight of the university's community were injured, including a male teacher and two students, one of them a girl," he added.

On Monday, people, including students, took out rallies in Imphal West, Imphal East, Thoubal, Churachandpur and Ukhrul districts of Manipur demanding reopening of Manipur University which has been paralysed from May 30.

S. Tondang, a participant in a rally in Imphal East, said: "We and like-minded people gathered to take up this peace rally against bandhs, blockades and strikes. The Manipur University should be reopened immediately. The vice-chancellor-in-charge should start functioning without delay. Save the lives of students. The issue should not be politicised. The teachers who do not want to educate students must be removed."

The human resource development ministry has constituted a fact-finding committee to conduct an inquiry into allegations made by the Manipur University Students' Union (Musu) against Pandey that range from administrative to financial irregularities.

Pandey is also accused of using his chamber like a "night club" and availing a bullet-proof car and Y-category security.

The Manipur government has constituted a high-powered ministerial team led by deputy chief minister Y. Joykumar with education minister Th. Radheshyam as a member.

On Sunday, the team appealed to the university community to bring back normality. Joykumar said restoring normality on campus was important to facilitate an inquiry by the fact-finding committee in a free and fair manner.

He said vice-chancellor Pandey had been put on leave for 30 days and the senior-most professor, W. Vishwanath, had been appointed the vice-chancellor-in-charge. The Manipur University Teachers' Association (Muta), Musu and the Manipur University Staff Association (Musa) refused the step taken up by the HRD ministry and demanded an "independent" inquiry committee.

According to the university fraternity, the fact-finding committee is not an independent body. What they want is a committee with two retired vice-chancellors and a retired judge.