After the violence that unfolded in the JNU campus, on January 5, different news and media channels have tried to find out the actual truth behind what actually happened. Recently, India Today TV’s investigation claimed to expose some crucial factors related to the matter, including the ABVP’s involvement, that they have been vociferously denying.
Despite the fact that the ABVP has denied all connections with the JNU incident, Alt News has also found many pictures and videos of Akshat Awasthi, a first-year French degree course student allegedly an ABVP activist, along with prominent ABVP members.
India Today, on January 10, broadcast videos from a sting operation, in which Awasthi admitted his association and involvement in the January 5 attack. Akshat identified himself as an ABVP activist as well in the tape.
Along with him, India Today’s investigation also revealed two other names other Akshat Awasthi: Rohit Shah, and Geeta Kumari (previous JNUSU president and AISA campaigner). All of them have allegedly admitted to and supposedly confessed to the roles they played that critical night in the videos released by India Today.
The second part of the inquiry, broadcast on January 11 by India Today, provided all the details of ABVP activist Komal Sharma’s alleged association with the incident.
However, the Delhi Police, still investigating the violence in JNU, has so far not been capable of recognising or identifying any member of the masked mob that attacked the JNU students and teachers last Sunday night and created the violence.
After releasing the tapes, the Delhi Police requested India Today to share their tapes, which will help them in the investigation process. As a result, the raw and unedited tapes have been handed over to the police.
In the tape, Akshat Awasthi is seen saying that they attacked only the Left-leaning students, to avenge an attack which was supposedly committed by the Left on ABVP students at Periyar Hostel, during the afternoon on the same day, and it was just a result to their action.
He also added, “The office-bearer of the ABVP is an organizational secretary of the ABVP. I called him. Left-Wing students and teachers were holding a meeting at Sabarmati Hostel. When Sabarmati was attacked, they all ran away and took shelter inside,” when asked by the India Today reporter how a mob was organised within hours.
Another person allegedly involved in violence on campus was Geeta Kumari (said to be a former JNUSU president and AISA activist, and a woman who was seen in one of the viral videos from Sunday’s aggression) who said, “Our vice-chancellor does everything online, sends love letter [slang] online, sends Happy Near Year online, sends warnings online, so we thought that he has crossed all limits. No exams are being carried, none of our demands are met, nor did he even meet us. So, we decided to close the server room so that the administration does not function.”
Quite naturally, the ABVP has denied all association with the JNU student Akshat Awasthi, and vice-versa. Alt News and India Today have found numerous pictures and videos of Awasthi in protests led by ABVP, with prominent other ABVP members and office-bearers, in support of the student body.
Akshat Awasthi and his classmate Rohit Shah both failed to turn up for police questioning on Monday, January 13, after they had been asked to come in for questioning. Both of them have also been missing since Sunday and their mobile phones have been also switched off apparently.
Apart from the duo, Komal Sharma’s phone also appears to be switched off, and the Delhi Police has sent a notice to Sharma to join the probe.