LPU violence 'police-sponsored': Ex-Punjab CM Channi alleges AAP vendetta against varsity owner

Punjab's former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi alleged that the violence that broke out at the Lovely Professional University's Phagwara campus was a result of political targeting of its owner Ashok Mittal. He accused Aam Aadmi Party of plotting to destroy the university after Mittal joined BJP. Channi also raised questions over the police response and the treatment of students during the protests.

"Outsiders went there and engaged in hooliganism. This hooliganism was sponsored by the police themselves. LPU Founder Ashok Mittal has joined the BJP, and after that, the Aam Aadmi Party government has tried to destroy this University," news agency ANI quoted Channi as saying.

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Raising questions over the reported financial loss suffered by the university following the protests, Channi asked, "A loss of around ₹100 crore, as reported, I don't know for sure, has occurred, so who is responsible?"

Oppn slams AAP govt in Punjab

The AAP government, led by chief minister Bhagwant Mann has come under attack from the Opposition for the violence that broke out at the varsity campus. Former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa also questioned the government's handling of the situation, saying the authorities should have acted swiftly after students came out to protest.

"What happened in LPU, the govt has acted very late...they should have acted swiftly. Students came to the street, protested. This should not work like this," Randhawa said.

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BJP leader and former Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu alleged that the AAP government was behind the LPU unrest ahead of Union home minister Amit Shah’s September 30 rally in Jalandhar. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal also alleged that AAP mischief led to arson and violence.

The state government meanwhile announced the formation of a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the LPU incident while defending the state police. AAP Punjab media in-charge Baltej Singh Pannu said the situation at LPU was "highly sensitive", and the police handled it with restraint and professionalism.

What led to the violence at LPU

Lovely Professional University in Phagwara saw massive protests over the weekend following unverified reports that an outsider had raped a student. The protests turned violent on Sunday, when a masked mob vandalised university property, torched police vehicles, and set parts of campus buildings on fire. Demonstrators also blocked the Amritsar-Delhi National Highway-44 for nearly 12 hours.

The Punjab Police found that unverified claims and viral rumours circulating on the social media forum Reddit triggered violent student unrest and arson in two major private university campuses in the state.

Investigations into the separate incidents at LPU in Phagwara and Chitkara University in Rajpura revealed that fake accounts of sexual assault, student suicides, and mysterious disappearances were deliberately seeded into open discussion threads, leading to campus-wide protests. No factual basis could be established for any of the viral allegations, police said.

Following the violence, a large number of police personnel, supervised by senior superintendents of police (SSPs) from 10 districts, were stationed on the campus. Internet services within a 3-km radius of the campus were suspended to prevent the spread of rumours.

LPU administration suspended classes for 10 days from Monday and a large number of students left the campus for their homes.