Two JNU students claiming to be Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad members were seen admitting to their role in the JNU violence in 'sting' videos aired on India Today TV.
Reacting to the exposé, Delhi police spokesperson Mandeep Singh Randhawa said they will obtain these tapes from the television channel and include it in the ongoing probe being conducted by a Special Investigation Team. “The role of the people caught on camera will be verified and their presence on campus during the violence will be checked,” he said.
Akshat Awasthi, a first-year student of the French degree programme at Jawaharlal Nehru University, was seen on camera saying that he mobilised mobs for the attack on campus on January 5 from within and outside the campus. He claimed to be an ABVP activist. “After we were attacked, I immediately mobilised a large number of students and attacked Sabarmati Hostel,” he was heard saying in a video.
Another student, Rohit Shah, was also heard on camera saying that he gave his helmet to Awasthi before the latter set out for Sabarmati Hostel.
In another tape, Left activist Geeta Kumari was seen saying that she was involved in shutting down the university servers. Justifying her action, she said Vice Chancellor M. Jagadesh Kumar was communicating with the students only online and avoiding meeting them, so they decided to target the server room in order to force the administration's hand.
Responding subsequently to the 'sting operation', she tweeted: “JNU VC increases our fee a thousand times. He sends punishment letters for demanding right to education. I myself have received countless such letters. We are fighting for our rights. We are in civil disobedience. That's what I have said. Nothing to hide.”
