Dipayal, December 7:

More than 40 people were hurt in violent clashes between police and students in Dadeldhura this afternoon.

Thirty one students and 11 policemen were injured in the incident. The condition of nine is stated to be critical, including six students.

Trouble broke out after the examinations for first-year undergraduate students were cancelled. The exams were called off after UML-affiliated Youth Force cadres’ allegedly manhandled Arjun Kumar Basnet, chief, Education Campus, Dadeldhura, yesterday.

The situation spun out of control after the agitating students started vandalising the district administration office. They also allegedly seized tear gas shells from the police.

“The windowpanes of the office have been smashed,” alleged Hari Krishna Upadhyaya, Chief District Officer, Dadeldhura.

The students ran helter-skelter once the police begun the crackdown. Later, they organised a protest rally in Dadeldhura bazaar, demanding action against “errant police personnel” and to hold the cancelled exams. They have threatened to intensify the stir from tomorrow if their demands aren’t met.

UML leader Bikram Shahi rubbished campus chief Basnet’s allegation.