Bhubaneswar: An FIR has been registered against three BJD leaders, including Chandabali MLA Byomakesh Ray, in connection with a scuffle that ensued during a torch rally in Cuttack over the Ravenshaw University name change issue yesterday.

The Malgodown police in Odisha’s Cuttack city registered the FIR against Ray and two other BJD leaders—Lenin Mohanty and Akram Khan alias Bobby—after receiving a complaint in this regard from Shyama Sundar Sahoo, a research scholar of Statistics department at Ravenshaw University.

Hundreds of former and present students of the prestigious educational institution yesterday took out a torch rally in the Silver City to oppose any move to rename Ravenshaw University.

They took out the rally under the banner of Save Ravenshaw Legacy Forum from Ranihaat Square to College square in Cuttack in the evening.

The students shouted slogans against any attempt for renaming of the university and pleaded for appropriate measures to uphold its century-old legacy.

According to reports, a scuffle ensued between two groups near the main gate of the university during the torch rally. A few students alleged that they were manhandled by some outsiders in the varsity campus during the rally.

As per the complaint, some outsiders attacked Sahoo while he and a few of his friends were discussing certain issues near the main gate of the varsity in the evening.

The outsiders allegedly hurled abuses at Sahoo and his friends and threatened to kill them with a gun.

In his complaint, Sahoo claimed that the outsiders were being led by the three BJD leaders, including Ray.

The BJD, however, condemned the registration of FIR against its leaders. The party claimed that the torch rally was organised peacefully and no one from the rally did enter the university campus.