The sequence of events that led to a massive damage of property and a show of lawlessness at Lovely Professional University on Jattvibeday has left the campus authorities, staff, students, politicians and even media, baffled. The key question remains: Was the unrest triggered merely by a rumour, fuelled by outsiders, or part of a larger attempt to target the university?The students, authorities and even the police do not rule out the presence of outsiders on the campus. Majority of them believe that it was a part of a design to target the LPU, whose Chancellor Ashok Mittal had left AAP to join the BJP a few months back.Even a day after an FIR was registered over the alleged rape of an “unknown girl” by “unknown persons”, investigators had found no evidence to substantiate the claim. Even though a Special Investigation Team had been announced to work on the issue, the DIG, Jalandhar Range, Naveen Singla, after inspecting the campus and girls’ hostels on Jattvibeday, maintained, “It was just a rumour and that there seemed to be no basis for it”.Observers also feel that there is a clear pattern of how an unverified report had disturbed the peace on both campuses – Chitkara University and LPU – within a span of less than 24 hours. While the situation at Chitkara was quickly brought under control, the disturbance at the LPU persisted for nearly 22 hours. Cops from four police districts – Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar Rural and Jalandhar Commissionerate Police – remained present in large numbers as the students refused to vacate the highway. Police vehicles were set on fire, glass bottles were hurled, the admission block entrance was damaged despite heavy police presence.The university authorities have reportedly questioned the police response. They pointed out that students who were removed from the highway blockade around 6 am were later allowed to regroup and continue the protest until midnight. There have been allegations against the police on prolonging the matter and taking over 22 hours to broker peace between the students and the LPU authorities.SSP Kapurthala Gaurav Toora said on Jattvibeday that deep mistrust between students and the university administration had complicated efforts to restore normalcy. Some students suggested that concerns over earlier incidents on the campus, including alleged suicides and their handling, had contributed to simmering resentment. However, they insisted they had no intention of vandalising their own institution.”We never wanted our campus to be devastated like this,” some students said. “Laptops, mobile phones, clothes and food items were looted from Uni Mall and other kiosks. There were masked outsiders among the crowd. We could not have gone to such extremes. CCTV cameras were damaged and DVRs were even set on fire,” they said.The scale of violence and the extensive national media coverage have also heightened anxiety among students about the university’s reputation. “Our placement graph will surely fall. Unless the authorities do something really big to revive the image of the LPU, our future remains at stake”, they said.The incident is also a cause for concern for the BJP ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s proposed rally, scheduled about 1.5 km from the LPU campus on the Phagwara-Jalandhar highway. The violence just three days ahead of Shah’s visit is also being reviewed as linked.