Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists on Friday evening chased and beat up the vice chancellor and the registrar of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya University (DDU) in Gorakhpur – the home turf of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath – over alleged irregularities in the varsity and assaulted police personnel who had arrived here to control the mob.

Dainik Bhaskar reported that members of the ABVP, a student organisation with ties to the Bharatiya Janata Party, also vandalised the chamber of the vice-chancellor. The police had to resort to a lathi-charge to control the situation. Vice-chancellor Rajesh Singh and officiating registrar Ajay Singh, three-four ABVP members and some policemen were injured in the ruckus. As many as 10 ABVP workers have been detained, the report claimed.

Why ruckus in Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University?

ABVP workers had been protesting against the alleged irregularities in the university. The immediate trigger for the violence was said to be the refusal by university officials to meet the protesters on Friday.

According to the students’ union, the varsity was yet to resolve the problems despite the vice chancellor’s assurances. On July 13, ABVP activists staged a demonstration on the university campus by burning the effigy of the vice-chancellor.

Later, the vice chancellor reportedly listened to the problems of the students and assured them that they would be resolved soon.

But later, Dean Satyapal Singh issued an order for the suspension of four ABVP members who allegedly created the ruckus. In protest against the order, when the students reached to meet the vice-chancellor on Friday, he allegedly refused to talk.

Around 3pm, the angry workers reached the vice-chancellor’s chamber and attacked him and vandalised his chamber.

“In the presence of police, students and outsiders created a ruckus on campus. The police tried to convince the students to stop but they failed. The police then decided to take the university officials out of the campus safely. When the V-C was being taken to safety, the miscreants manhandled him,” The Indian Express quoted a university official as saying.

“The miscreants attacked and injured officiating registrar professor Ajay Singh. When he fell on the ground, the miscreants hit him and he suffered injuries. They also hit him with a blunt object on his head. Later, the police shifted him to a safer place,” the official added.