Hyderabad: Rumours that a student had died in police firing in Mahabubabad on Friday sparked student protests and rallies on the Osmania University campus. Telangana activists and Congress workers had clashed over the Congress MP, Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Odarpu yatra and a student was reported to be killed in the police firing that followed.

A bandh call has been given by the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee on May 29. In view of the bandh, the Osmania University has postponed the MBA fourth semester and BCA second semester examinations scheduled for Saturday.

The agitation only died down in the evening when the police confirmed that no one had died. Protesting the police firing, students took out a series of rallies all through the day, pelted stones at malls and restaurants and forced shops to close down in Tarnaka.

“About a hundred students went on a rally from OU towards Tarnaka. They burnt the effigy of Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy and the MLA, Ms Konda Surekha. We took a few of them into custody,” said a police official on duty.

Paramilitary forces, the Rapid Action Force and local police were deployed on the Osmania University campus as the authorities feared a replay of the violence that had erupted over the Telangana issue three months ago.

The ABVP leader, Mr J. Kalyan, said, “Criminal cases must be booked against him for flaring up tension in the region. He has pledged his support for United Andhra Pradesh while a separate state is the demand from the people there. How can the government let him tour the region?”