00:00And we begin with the story that's been dominating the headlines for the past two days and something which can
00:04be described as anything but lovely.
00:07The LPU loot villains have been caught on camera and these visuals which we are going to show you on
00:12your screen are going to indicate that this was not a protest, it was plain plunder.
00:19On camera, shops inside LPU's mall have been looted.
00:23These students are seen walking away with laptops, with phones, all which they have looted from shops within the LPU
00:28premises.
00:30The mall camera has captured this mob of youth looters.
00:33Again, mobile shops, laptop shops have all been targeted.
00:36Even bookstore ATMs have not been spared as well.
00:40Shop owners claim that up to 10 crore in damages were suffered by them.
00:44It's one of the biggest moments of shame for one of Punjab's leading private universities.
00:49Protests for rape, was this an excuse to loot?
00:51Let me put that question across to my colleague Kamaljeet who's joining us live at this point.
00:56Kamaljeet, how did a protest against alleged rape become an excuse to loot and plunder as we are seeing from
01:03the CCDB visuals?
01:08Well, over 2,000 students had marched towards the highway where they actually sat for a dharna, blocking the highway
01:16for over 18 hours.
01:18But the specific question is, why the loot?
01:20Why the arson?
01:21This is now the visual from Unival and the vicinity of it, where articles worth crores of rupees were looted
01:29from shops.
01:30Several of them were destroyed.
01:32This is where the question arises because if these students are claiming that they have come together for a cause,
01:38then why are they indulging in this sort of a loot?
01:41We spoke to several of the shopkeepers who seem to be devastated by the sense of loss.
01:46Some of them had taken loans worth lakhs of rupees.
01:49An upcoming festival season, they were saying they were looking for good sales.
01:54But meanwhile, laptops and phones worth lakhs of rupees being stolen, especially by several of them who were students.
02:03So they're looking at the CCTV.
02:05They're trying to identify several of them.
02:07A whole lot of students were actually had put mask on their face or a handkerchief.
02:13But also one of the pertinent issues that could be seen was the way they tried to actually take away
02:19the CCTV and the DVR itself.
02:22But several of these videos became viral because they had been taken on mobile phone as well.
02:28And this is where the identification being done.
02:31Even as we were inside the LPU, a fresh team of Punjab police was there to carry out investigation.
02:38So remember, a three-member committee has been fogged by the LPU, a disciplinary action committee.
02:44And they will investigate at least 30 to 40 students who they believe were behind the arson and the looting.
02:51The other is obviously the police investigation, which is going to go on parallel.
02:55Well, lakhs and crores of rupees, this is where what we've been told is the amount which has been put
03:05as the number of losses,
03:06not just by the shopkeepers, but by the LPU campus itself.
03:12Indeed.
03:12Kamaljit, take us through what has been the claim and counterclaim that we have heard from LPU so far.
03:18Because the university put out a statement yesterday saying these were outsiders with vested interest trying to wish you the
03:26atmosphere on campus.
03:27If these were indeed outsiders, can the university explain where were they from and who led them inside the campus?
03:36First, let me walk you through the visuals and that you will be able to know how things really panned
03:41out.
03:41One is that just about Saturday, late night, Sunday morning, that's when things started to boil.
03:49And by Sunday morning, the students were out on a protest claiming that a woman student had been raped and
03:54that it was done by outside.
03:56Perhaps somebody said it's a plumber or the electrician.
03:59However, LPU immediately came out with a statement saying, Nathan, this has happened and this is a fake news.
04:05Police came in because it became a law and order situation.
04:08The students could not point out who the victim really was.
04:12However, based on a complaint by the students, they did file a FIR and eventually also formed an SIT.
04:17But meanwhile, it does seem that once a Lathi charge was done, this is where students turned violent.
04:23And some of the students also looted the student mall.
04:25And this is where things become really ugly as far as lovely university is concerned.
04:30Because this is where it does seem that students had indulged in wide-scale arson, looting.
04:38Clearly, there is a talk about how outsiders could have come in.
04:43But we've been speaking to top officials within Punjab Police who tell us the gates were locked in.
04:50And then this is where the first sort of set of angst and protest came in from.
04:55And the gates were broken, especially from inside.
05:00And only thereafter, the outsiders could come in.
05:03This is also a matter of investigation.
05:04This is what was reiterated by the shopkeepers whose shops were looted.
05:10They said they were definitely some of the students who were regulars.
05:13And then there could be perhaps some outsiders.
05:17It's still a matter of hope.
05:18But given the timing of poll tidings, this is where it does seem there's an indication coming in that there
05:26could be a political conspiracy.
05:28But Baltej Panu spoke and said that there was no pellet gun used.
05:33There were no force used as such.
05:36Something drawing comparison to the CGP protests in Delhi.
05:39So, there's a whole lot of multi-layered issue seems to really crop up here.
05:44But LPU is not the first.
05:46We've seen Chitkara.
05:46We've seen Chandigarh University a couple of years ago where students came out in large numbers.
05:51And they are very difficult to handle, especially when things become viral on WhatsApp and subsequently on Instagram.
05:58And obviously, the attempt to reign them in…
06:00All right, Kamaljeet, thanks for joining us and getting us this update.
06:03We will be tracking what's happening at lovely, not-so-lovely professional universities shortly.
06:07We will be tracking what's happening at the end of the day.
