India, Sept. 29 -- The volatile situation at Phagwara's Lovely Professional University (LPU), sparked by unverified reports of a female student's rape on campus, caught the district administration completely off guard, spiralling into widespread arson, vanadalism and chaos across the 600-acre campus.

What raised serious alarm is how the unrest spread on Sunday evening despite the heavy deployment of police personnel, who had been stationed at the varsity since early morning following an initial flare-up late Saturday night.

With a mob of masked youths rampaging on campus, hurling stones and glass bottles, cops were forced to retreat as agitators torched police SUVs, damaged motorcycles, and set two university blocks on fire.

"How and w...