Four days after students went on a rampage on the premises of Lovely Professional University (LPU), Rajya Sabha MP and LPU Chancellor Ashok Mittal, speaking for the first time on the entire fiasco during Home Minister Amit Shah’s rally here, termed the happenings at the university as a “conspiracy” against LPU. He also said the sexual assault allegations made regarding a girl student at the university were “100 crore per cent” lies.Speaking to the press on the sidelines of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s rally, when asked whether he thought LPU was targeted, Ashok Mittal said, “Why only LPU and Chitkara saw such incidents? There is indeed a huge conspiracy behind it. It is a conspiracy to damage Punjab, dent Hindu-Sikh unity, destabilise the university, defame Punjab, hurt Punjab’s economy and target jobs, as LPU provides many.”He added, “Someone posts just two lines on Reddit and then starts provoking others after calling them, asking others why they are sitting quiet on the issue. You just post something and it becomes true?”Responding to other charges and allegations levelled by students against LPU, Mittal said, “These allegations are all planted ahead of such an ‘updrav’ (rampage). There is possibly no other university in India which listens to students as much as LPU.”Asked whether the charges of sexual assault were false, he responded, “It is all in front of you. These are not 100 per cent but 100 crore per cent lies. Anyone can claim anything.”Responding to whether he thought this was vendetta by AAP for leaving the party and joining BJP, Mittal said, “It would not be right for me to comment on this presently. When facts come to light, I will speak.”Asked whether previously ousted students could be behind the incidents, he said, “It seems many are those. Those who had been expelled or got low marks, etc.”Mittal said the university had itself also lodged complaints against those who indulged in arson.“We hope the probe will reveal what the conspiracy is and why these incidents were carried out. We have sought strict action against those who caused damage. If students are also found to be culprits, we ourselves will act against them and call for them to be arrested,” he said.When questioned, he said the LPU issue was not discussed between him and Home Minister Amit Shah during the rally.Notably, following the incidents at LPU, the first FIR, registered against an unknown person for alleged sexual assault at the university, was registered on September 28 at the Satnampura police station. Subsequently, three more FIRs have been registered against unknown persons for robbery, arson and vandalism at the university — one at Satnampura and two at Sadar Phagwara.