Varanasi, Nov 21 : Agitated over the death of a student, several groups of college students fought a battle with the police here. They targeted public property and damaged a number of vehicles, officials said Saturday.

Sanjeet Singh, a second year undergraduate student of Udai Pratap College went missing two days ago. His body was recovered Friday night from Cholapur area of this city in Uttar Pradesh, about 250 km from state capital Lucknow.

Students allege Singh was murdered. Parents of the victim claim that the police had refused to register a report on the disappearance of their son.

Police had to use batons to disperse the crowd of angry students in Shivpur area of the city.

"We had no other option other than to use force. However, no one was seriously injured in the entire incident," Superintendent of Police (city) Vijay Bhushan told reporters.

Shouting anti-police slogans, angry students also tried to set several vehicles on fire.

"Taking into account the violent protests carried out by the college students, additional security has been deployed on the campus and at several other areas of Varanasi," said Bhushan.(IANS)