'They led mobs of mayhem': Smriti Irani shames Left as Delhi Police unravels JNU violence

The Delhi Police on Friday released photographs of nine suspects identified for the violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) last week, naming mostly students affiliated to the Left-controlled students' union. Reacting to this, Union Minister Smriti Irani has said that "Left design in JNU has been unmasked." Taking to Twitter, Irani wrote that they led mobs of mayhem, destroyed public property paid for by taxpayers, disallowed new students from being enrolled and used the campus as a political battleground. 

Delhi Police identifies suspects in JNU violence

Focusing on the clashes that took place on the campus before Sunday over increased hostel fees, Delhi Police officials named Chunchun Kumar, Pankaj Mishra, Aishe Ghosh, Waskar Vijay, Sucheta Talukdar, Priya Ranjan, Dolan Sawant, Yogendra Bhardwaj and Vikas Patel. Aishe Ghosh is the president of the Left-controlled JNU students' union while Yogendra Bhardwaj and Vikas Patel are said to be members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Aishe Ghosh denied police charges

According to the Delhi Police, Aishe Ghosh and other members of the Left groups attacked the server room at JNU to stop online registrations and enforce a strike over their protest against the increased fees. At a news briefing, Aishe Ghosh denied the police charges and said she had gone to the scene to stop the violence. "I was not wearing any masks, I have done no wrong... I still have my blood-soaked clothes," she said.

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However, the police did not give much information whether they have identified any of the masked people who attacked students and teachers at JNU on Sunday evening. In the violence that took place in the evening, Aishe Ghosh suffered head injuries. Nearly 30 students and teachers were injured in the violence that marred the JNU when a mob of several masked people stormed into hostels in JNU and attacked students and teachers with rods, sticks and stones.

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Delhi Police PRO, MS Randhawa, in the news briefing said, "The investigation regarding the criminal cases filed in connection with the JNU violence incident is being carried out by the Crime Branch. But it has been observed that a lot of misinformation related to these cases is being circulated."

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