NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who was released on bail, was reportedly aware that the members of the Democratic Students Union (DSU) were going to organise the ‘anti-national’ event on the campus.
University registrar Bupinder Zutshi, diposing before the high-power enquiry committee constituted by Vice-Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar, has said that Kumar was against the authorities’ decision to cancel the ‘anti-India’ programme. “At around 16:42 hours (on February 9), I got a call from the mobile number 9********7. The caller said, ‘Sir, I am Kanhaiya Kumar speaking, why did you withdraw the permission for the cultural event as the organisers are the same who have got requisite permission for organising the event?’”
The registrar’s deposition, accessed by The Sunday Standard, indicates that the student union president was aware of the ‘anti-national event’ beforehand. Zutshi further stated that he told Kumar that he had not given any permission to organise any event. “It is the DSW who gives permission. So I handed the mobile to DSW and asked him to talk to students,” said Zutshi.
Before the interrogators, Kumar had said that he was in his room till 5 pm and was not aware of any such ‘anti-national’ activities on the campus. The interrogation report of Kumar states that he only came to know about the event through some of his friends sitting outside the Brahmaputra Hostel at around 5 pm when he woke up and went outside to have snacks and tea.
Contrary to it, Zutshi told the enquiry committee, “I had called a meeting of JNSU in my office at 3 pm on February 9 to discuss the route for the new bus acquired by JNU for disabled students. Mr Kumar and Mr Rama Naga reached first. Around 3 pm and we had a discussion on the bus route. After 10 minutes, Mr Saurav Sharma (ABVP member and JNSU joint secretary) also came.We all discussed the bus route for 10 minutes.”
Zutshi said Sharma told him that he wanted to talk about some serious issues which were about to happen on the campus. Both Kumar and Naga were sitting there. “Sharma showed me a pamphlet regarding the ‘cultural event’ on ‘judicial killing of Afzal Guru’ and said some of the students are organising this event today (February 9, 2016) at 5 pm at Sabarmati Dhaba,” Zutshi told the committee.
The registrar showed Kumar and Naga the pamphlet and asked whether they were organising the event. “Kumar said that a group of DSU students whose name was given at the end of the pamphlet were organising the event,” the registrar said in a two-page note to the enquiry committee.
The final report of the committee is likely to be submitted to the probing agency by next week.