Five injured at LPU after students go on rampage over mobile theft ›
We haven’t registered an FIR for blocking the highway as the students had not blocked the entire highway. Traffic was not hit. SANDEEP KUMAR SHARMA , SSP
PHAGWARA: Five people were injured when students of Lovely Professional University (LPU) went on the rampage to protest the detention of a hosteller over a mobile phone theft in Phagwara near Jalandhar on Sunday night.
Police said four students of the university were injured when a Maruti Zen car driver hit them while they were protesting outside the university on National Highway-1.
He was also injured in the incident. All five are hospitalised and out of danger.
LPU is located on the highway and spread over 600 acres. It houses students from different parts of India and abroad.
Classes resumed on Monday as police kept a watch outside the campus.
Trouble began on the campus on Sunday evening when a police team from Jalandhar cantonment rounded up a BSC secondyear student, Subhanshu Dubey, 22, who hails from Bihar, and searched his hostel room in D-block for a stolen mobile phone. Last week, Sanjeev Kumar, 21, a BSC agriculture first-year student from Tamil Nadu, lodged a complaint at the Jalandhar bus stand police post that his phone had been stolen. He said when he called up his number, the receiver demanded ₹35,000 for returning it.
Sadar station house officer Lakhvir Singh said Dubey’s detention angered LPU students, who held a protest demanding his immediate release. They turned violent and damaged university property by throwing flower pots. Their anger spilled onto the highway and around midnight they blocked traffic for two hours.
Phagwara superintendent of police (SP) Parminder Singh rushed to the campus. Sources said police fired five shots in the air before opening a cane charge on the protesters.
In the melee, four students were hit by the speeding Maruti Zen car (CH03C9407) being driven on the wrong side. The angry students set the car ablaze.
Those injured have been identified as Mozmal Hayat (20), Ram Kinkar (22), Aman (20), Dina Nath (21). They are being treated at a private hospital in Jalandhar. The police whisked away the car driver, Shahenshah Singh, and another occupant, Pankaj. Both were arrested for
attempt to murder.
POLICE GOING EASY ON PROTESTERS
The agitating students agreed to lift the blockade after the Phagwara SP ordered Dubey’s release on Sunday night. In a press release, the LPU authorities said when the police brought Dubey to the hostel, some students started agitating and came out of the campus onto the highway.
Though the highway was blocked for over two hours by the students, the police have not registered a case. No FIR was registered after the violence and damage to public property during the protest.
SSP Sandeep Kumar Sharma said, “We haven’t registered an FIR for blocking the highway as the students had not blocked the entire highway. Traffic was unaffected.” Asked about the violence, he said police are identifying the students to take legal action.