LPU violence: Student seeks CBI probe; Chancellor Mittal skips unrest query

“I will speak on it separately, but today will entertain questions only about Nasha Mukt Yatra,” he said.

He also declined to comment on allegations levelled by former chief minister and Congress MP Singh Channi and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia that the LPU was being targeted by the AAP government after Mittal left the party to join the BJP.

Meanwhile, the PIL, filed by LPU BTech student Ravi Raj, seeks an independent investigation by the CBI into the violence, vandalism and alleged arson and looting on the campus. The plea claims that an unverified post circulated among students on the night of September 26 alleging that a student was raped. It says students subsequently gathered outside a girls’ hostel and later blocked NH-44.

The petition further alleges that people carrying swords, rods and sickles and with their faces covered entered the campus, broke open gates, damaged CCTV cameras, looted shops and set parts of the university premises on fire. The petitioner has also sought action under relevant provisions of the IT Act over the circulation of misleading information and adequate security arrangements around the university.

The High Court agreed to hear the PIL on Wednesday after it was mentioned before the Bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor.

Meanwhile, the university on Tuesday extended the suspension of offline classes till October 7 and rescheduled the mid-term tests for October 12-17, as students continued to leave the campus following Sunday’s violence.

In a communication to students, LPU said the decision was taken as a precaution amid the circulation of “misleading information and rumours”. It said the situation remained stable and was being closely monitored, while assuring students that there would be no academic loss or dilution of the academic calendar.

Online classes will be held on October 5, 6 and 7, with attendance compulsory. Doubt-clearing sessions will be held online and offline on October 8 and 9, while students opting for offline sessions can return to campus on those dates.

The university said the autumn term academic calendar would be extended wherever required and end-term practical examinations would be conducted after the theory examinations. Placement drives, however, will continue as scheduled.

LPU is also independently examining videos circulating on social media to establish the sequence of events and identify those responsible for specific acts of vandalism.

Dean of Students Welfare Dr Saurabh Lakhanpal said, “The matter is under investigation. The various videos regarding the incidents are also being verified by the university at its own level to establish the facts.”

The university’s exercise is separate from the police investigation, which is examining the wider circumstances surrounding the protest and violence.

Police are also examining CCTV footage and videos to identify those involved in vandalism and damage to property. Additional Director General of Police Praveen Sinha said the investigation was under way and that those involved would be identified and action taken.

The violence has left several shops inside the university’s Uni Mall damaged, with shopkeepers claiming losses running into lakhs. One mobile phone shopkeeper said masked miscreants broke open his shop with iron rods and took away mobile phones, pen drives and memory cards. He also claimed that CCTV cameras were damaged and the DVR taken away.

Another shopkeeper estimated his losses in lakhs, while a departmental-store worker said cosmetics and other goods were looted.

Several purported videos showing masked individuals targeting shops have surfaced on social media. The university has said such footage is being independently verified, including when and where individual clips were recorded and whether they correspond to the incidents being claimed.

Interestingly, a stationery shop on the campus remained untouched.
The violence had erupted on Sunday after unverified reports circulated among students alleging that an outsider had sexually assaulted a female student on campus. The university denied the allegation, calling it baseless and fabricated, while police registered a case against an unidentified person and launched an investigation.

At Tuesday’s BJP rally, former Phagwara mayor Arun Kholsa, speaking before Mittal arrived, alleged that the state government was behind the violence and claimed that “goons” were brought from outside to unleash mayhem on the LPU campus.

Mittal, meanwhile, focused his speech on the BJP’s ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’, which is scheduled to conclude in Jalandhar on Wednesday in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Claiming that the yatra had received a large public response, Mittal alleged that the AAP government was “rattled” by it and had tried to disturb the campaign at several places.

“The unnerved state government tried to disturb the ‘yatra’ at many places, but it failed in its designs. Rather, it continued to march ahead with a large number of Punjabis associating themselves with it every day,” he said.

Mittal also said Phagwara’s “holy land” had inspired him to establish what he described as the largest university in the country.

On drugs, he said the problem had assumed “alarming proportions” in Punjab and alleged that successive state governments had patronised drug smugglers. He appealed to Punjabis to vote the BJP to power in 2027, saying the party could eradicate the drug menace.

On the law-and-order situation and Shah’s rally, Mittal said he hoped the state government would not do anything to disturb the event and would respect the office of the Union Home Minister.