Ashok Mittal said no rape incident occurred at LPU after fake reports started from social media on August 26. Violence broke out when a mob vandalised the campus and blocked the highway. Mittal claimed the incident was well-planned to damage the university's reputation, and police are now investigating the matter.
As normalcy returned to Lovely Professional University (LPU), Ashok Mittal, Rajya Sabha member and chancellor of the university, claimed that the entire incident had been executed in a well-planned manner.
On August 26, two waves of violence broke out following unverified reports alleging that an outsider had raped a female student. A masked mob vandalised university property, set fire to campus buildings, and torched police vehicles. Protesters threw stones and glass bottles at police officers before moving onto the Amritsar-Delhi National Highway (NH-44), blocking the major route for nearly 12 hours until traffic finally resumed after midnight.
"The entire narrative of fake rape reports started from social media platforms. The reality is that no rape incident occurred at LPU, and all the reports related to it are fake and completely baseless," Mittal said.
In July, Mittal -- who had previously been raided by the ED in April -- severed ties with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and joined the BJP, alongside three of his colleagues: Harbhajan Singh, Sandeep Pathak, and Raghav Chadha.
Mittal stated he is certain the entire incident was sponsored and calculated, adding that the managed lawlessness was designed to damage the reputation of both LPU and the state.
"Both the Chitkara and LPU incidents were strongly correlated and well-concocted by goonda elements. These incidents demotivated educationists who wanted to invest in Punjab. I will expose all those responsible for the violence at LPU with concrete evidence. The masked vandals were hired to vandalise everything on the LPU campus," he said.
Regarding the involvement of the students, the university has already started identifying the mob. Preliminary investigations reveal that most of the key participants are LPU alumni, who were either rusticated for anti-social activities or facing other disciplinary actions, he said.
"Most of them had poor academic records. Only a few university students joined them after being provoked to take part in these violent acts. We are already coordinating with the special investigation team probing the violence incidents and are providing them with all the support needed for a free and fair investigation into the matter," he said.
Both the LPU management and the local police remain unable to verify a Reddit post alleging a sexual assault on campus. While a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed to conduct a detailed probe, neither the alleged victim nor the accused has been identified.
The Kapurthala police had registered a rape case under Section 64 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita against unidentified person after the unrest began on Sunday when a masked mob vandalised university property, torched police vehicles, and set parts of campus buildings on fire following such unverified reports circulated among the students.