The students, charged with murder, rioting and attempt to murder, were produced before Rasipuram Judicial Magistrate A Munuswamy who remanded them to judicial custody.
Two of them were lodged in the Central Prison in Salem while the others were sent to the Sub-jail at Paramathy.
The third year students of Gnanamani Engineering College had yesterday asked their juniors to fetch them drinking water from a tank which they refused, following which they were threatened with dire consequences.
The students sped away in the car, but locals alerted the police, who nabbed them at nearby Omalur.