Five FTII students arrested; Kejriwal offers 'temporary space' for classes in Delhi

He also suggest that the 'temporary space' could be converted into a full fledged institute at a later stage

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday offered the agitating students of Pune-based FTII "temporary space" in New Delhi to run classes till their demands are met.

In a series of tweets, Kejriwal expressed his shock after Maharashtra Police arrested five students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) from their campus for rioting on late Tuesday.

Kejriwal said, "I am shocked to hear of what is going on at FTII. An internationally reputed institute being systematically destroyed by government's wrong decisions."

"My offer to FTII students -- Delhi government can provide you temporary space in Delhi. Run your classes here till central government agrees," he said.

Kejirwal said that "If finally, the central government doesn't agree, we'll convert this place into full fledged institute and students can continue studying here only."

In a post-midnight swoop, Maharashtra police arrested five students of FTII from the campus for rioting, damaging properties and other charges.

The arrests came after a group of striking students confined FTII Director Prashant Pathrabe and other staffers in his office for eight hours, and vandalised office furniture and fittings on Monday.

The students, numbering more than two dozen, were protesting against what they alleged was "irrational and unjustified" pro-rata course project assessment of the 2008 batch.

"The students shouted slogans in his office, physically prevented him and other staffers from leaving the office, snapped communication lines and damaged office computers. They demanded that he should immediately cancel the project assessment or they would not release them," an official said on Wednesday.

The students also formed a human chain to stop Pathrabe from stepping out, threw rapid fire questions at him repeatedly, shouted slogans like "PM Narendra Modi & Arun Jaitley murdabad" and caused mental torture to the officials.

Following the incident, Pathrabe lodged a complaint with Deccan Police Station late Tuesday.

The police swung into action by registering a FIR against 15 students and sent teams to the campus at around 12.45 a.m.

In the action, at least five were picked up and arrested on various charges, including rioting under the Indian Penal Code, and other non-bailable offences, around 2 a.m, the police official said.

They will be produced before a magistrate later today.

Police teams are on the lookout for the others, including at least three women, who they believe maybe hiding in or around the FTII campus.

The police crackdown caps the 72 day old agitation in which a section of the students are opposing the appointment of BJP member and TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chairman.

Last week Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited the FTII and expressed solidarity with the students.

Later, he took a delegation of the FTII students to meet President Pranab Mukherjee.