January 5 probe: SIT quizzes JNU student

NEW DELHI: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Delhi Police on Wednesday asked Jawaharlal Nehru University student Dolan Samanta and alumnus Chunchun Kumar to join the probe into the clashes.
While Kumar did not join the probe on Wednesday, Samanta was quizzed for an hour. Both of them might again be called for questioning, as their claims are to be verified, police sources said.
Samanta, who was seen pointing a finger at someone inside the Periyar hostel, was asked why she had entered the hostel premises with her face covered and the conversation she was having with the person she was pointing her finger at, they added.
Kumar, who was allegedly seen pelting stones, will be questioned about the reason of their presence during the clash at the Periyar hostel, the sources said. He would be quizzed on how he had entered the campus and whether he was invited by someone, they added.
The entry logs at the gates are being scanned to find out the reference Chunchun had provided while entering the varsity. The person would also be asked to join the probe.
So far, police have questioned five students— Sucheta Talukdar, Priya Ranjan, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president Aishe Ghosh, Pankaj Mishra and Vhaskar Vijay Mech in connection with the clashes. Notices have been sent to others asking them to join the probe as well.
Meanwhile, a cyber and forensic team visited the university premises and tried to retrieve the recordings of the CCTV footage that was saved on the server which went offline on January 4.
The entire CCTV system at the university premises was affected due to the damaged server. “Once the server is shut down, it has to be completely reset after being switched on. Due to this, the data stored in it is likely to be affected. However, the cops are probing whether an automatic backup had been created,” said a senior police officer.