A day after the fiasco at Vidyasagar College, the scene of vandalism was kept out of bounds for outsiders and media the entire Wednesday morning by Trinamool Congress workers, even as it was learnt that the CCTV cameras on the campus premises had not been working for the last one and a half months.

The CCTV cameras outside and inside the room where the bust was kept have been reportedly out of order for the last one and a half month, though a board on the wall right behind the bust says “You are under CCTV surveillance”. The camera placed above the glass box covering the bust appeared broken and the wires disconnected.

Two of the cameras outside the room were also not working either. According to the college authorities, the police had taken the hard disk of the computer connected to the cameras following a previous incident inside the college.

EDITORIAL | Vidyasagar attacked

Students of the Zoology department who had their internal examination on May 15 and other students who had their regular class were not sure if the examination and classes would be held as they did not get any notification from the college, but regular classes and examination were run smoothly inside the campus.

Security guard Santi Ranjan Mohanti, who was present during the scuffle, told The Statesman: “I saw many people hitting the gate with bamboo sticks from outside and throwing stones. I locked the door from inside the corridor and ran away. I too was injured by the stones.”

Broken glass and chairs were found scattered all over the college premises on Wednesday.

According to some eyewitnesses, miscreants broke down two of the college’s gates and broke into the room where Vidyasagar’s bust was kept. They allegedly rushed inside, lifted the bust from its spot and broke it outside the room. They also randomly smashed furniture inside the room, said one of the eyewitnesses, adding that a laptop, which belonged to a professor and was kept inside a bag in the room, had been missing since the incident.

Principal Goutam Kundu said: “Broadband work of the campus was on. The miscreants set fire to the wires and also set fire to the cycle of a worker.”

The Vidyasagar College authorities have lodged a complaint against BJP national president Amit Shah and the organisers of his roadshow for the vandalism on the premises.

After a meeting of the Vidyasagar College governing body on Wednesday, its president and historian Jiban Mukhopadhyay said:  “We are shocked by the incident and demand proper inquiry. We have lodged a complaint at Amherst Street police station over the destruction of our college property. The estimate of loss will be determined soon.”