RSS-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members were part of the masked mob that perpetrated the violence in JNU on January 5, which left 35 injured, an investigation by a news channel found.
The two suspects in purported videos, in a sting done by Indian Today, states that they are ABVP volunteers and varsity students pursuing Bachelors in French.
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Meanwhile, the ABVP has refuted the charges, saying both students who figured in the purported videos are not their members.
In the sting videos, the students are seen admitting that they were part of the violence outside the varsity’s Sabarmati hostel. In one of the videos, another suspect is seen admitting that 20 more ABVP volunteers were part of the masked mob.
A sting was also done on a student affiliated to a left-leaning student body. The former JNUSU office-bearer is seen admitting that she was part of the group that shut down servers at the JNU’s Centre for Information Systems.
Earlier on Friday, the Crime Branch of Delhi Police had disclosed nine names in connection with the January violence.
JNU student leader Aishe Ghosh was also among the nine suspects, whose photographs were also released by the police.
Out of the 9 suspects, only two appear to be affiliated to the ABVP, which the JNUSU has accused of attacking students and teachers of the university.
Besides Ghosh, those identified include Chunchun Kumar, Pankaj Mishra, Waskar Vijay, Sucheta Talukraj, Priya Ranjan, Dolan Sawant, Yogendra Bhardwaj and Vikas Patel.
The Delhi Police has alleged that JNU Student’s Union President Aishe Ghosh led the mob that attacked the Periyar hostel on the evening of January 5.
Joy Tirkey, DCP (crime) said none of the suspects has been detained till now and that the police will begin interrogating the suspects soon.
The police also named four Left groups behind the violence – Students Front of India, All India Students Federation, All India Students Association and Democratic Students Federation.
Meanwhile, the cops also spoke about a second attack on January 5 by a “muffled” group carrying sticks and batons, who targetted rooms in Sabarmati Hostel where the students and JNU Teacher’s Association were holding a meeting.
However, they stated that the suspects are yet to be identified while adding that identification of the suspects was done on the basis of pictures and videos that went viral as CCTV footage could not be retained.
Unprecedented violence broke out in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi on Sunday night as several masked individuals, both male and female, thrashed students, including girls, and teachers inside the campus with wooden and metal rods, injuring at least 34 people.
The mob was reportedly seen carrying hammers, iron rods, sledgehammers and stones in videos and photographs that emerged out of the JNU campus.
(With PTI inputs)
