Two Rutgers University students have filed a federal lawsuit accusing New Brunswick police of beating them and ransacking their room when officers raided their off-campus apartment house.

Jake Kostman, 20, of Stanhope and Kareem Najjar, 19, of Clifton say plainclothes police busted open the door to their Somerset Street rental house at 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 10 and rushed into their bedroom yelling, but did not identify themselves as police officers.

The students, both sophomores, say they were punched and kicked by police, and their basement bedroom was ransacked, with books, notes and computers tossed on the floor the week before their final exams.