Jaipur: Four Kashmiri students were arrested on charges of disturbing public peace following rumours that they had cooked beef in their hostel room in a private university in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh district.

Police said the students were allegedly manhandled by some others students and locals after the rumours spread but prima facie the meat was not found to be beef.

The incident occurred on Monday night when the rumour spread that the Kashmiri students were cooking beef in the hostel room.

Soon after some students as well as locals assembled in front of the Mewar University and demanded action against them. Police rushed to the site and arrested four students under section 151 of IPC (disturbance of public peace) yesterday. They were questioned about their role in bringing the meat to the hostel and cooking it, SHO Gangrar Police Station Labhu Ram said.

Those arrested are Shakib Ashraf, Hilal Farukh, Mohammad Makbool and Shaukat Ali, aged between 21 to 27 years.

"We also collected the sample of the meat which prima facie does not appear to be beef. However, the samples have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for testing and the report is awaited," he said.

Public Relations Officer of the university said meat is not allowed in the campus. Cooking meat is against our policy.Police is investigating the case and during the initial probe, it was clear that the substance was not beef, Harish Gurnani, PRO of the autonomous university said. He said the hostellers involved in the matter were undergraduates.

PTI