M A I N   N E W S

Ahluwalia grilled for 5 hours
Photos culled from ex-VC’s computer
Jangveer Singh
Tribune News Service

Patiala, May 10
L’ affaire Ahluwalia took a new turn today with the police reportedly culling nude photographs from the personal computer of ousted Vice-Chancellor Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia which were shown for identification to Saru Rana, who is a complainant in an attempt to rape case filed against him.

The scene for Ahluwalia’s interrogation was set in the morning itself following an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court directing him to present himself before the Zonal Inspector General of Police in connection with an attempt to murder case registered against him in which he is accused of being part of a conspiracy to eliminate a university teacher, Dr H. S. Bhatti. The personal computer of Ahluwalia was specially taken in a police vehicle to the IG’s office.

Following this, Ahluwalia arrived in the office of the IG around 11.30 a.m. He was in for a rude shock as police personnel frisked him thoroughly before his questioning commenced. Sources said Ahluwalia was frisked thoroughly as the police suspected he might be armed with some recording device.

The sources said the ousted VC was questioned for five hours, during which he was asked about the numerous visits he made outside the university along with young girls. He was also grilled about some of the disclosures alleging that he had tape-recorded some material.

The sources said seconds after the exit of Ahluwalia from the IG’s office, Saru Rana reached the office along with her mother and another woman. They said Saru was shown nude photographs of around four to five girls in the age group of 20 to 22 years. She was also shown two photographs of two males in semi-nude poses. Saru was shown coloured printouts of stills reportedly culled from the video.

Saru reportedly could not identify either of the girls or the males whose photographs were shown to her. She stayed for a short period in the IG’s office. However, it could not be ascertained whether or not she had been called again for investigation in the case.

The former VC was accompanied by his son and a lawyer who had accompanied him to the office of the IG. The lawyer, however, refused to answer any question. Similarly, the former VC also did not stop to answer any question and was whisked away by his son who took his Honda City car into the compound of the IG’s office so that his father did not have to walk out of the office. Some university teachers who had agitated for the ouster of Ahluwalia also assembled in front of the IG’s office in the morning and jeered at him when he got out of his car.