Chandigarh, Sept. 29 -- Unverified claims and viral rumours circulating on the social media forum Reddit triggered violent student unrest and arson in two major private university campuses in the state, according to findings by Punjab Police.

Investigations into the separate incidents at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Phagwara and Chitkara University in Rajpura revealed that fabricated accounts of sexual assault, student suicides, and mysterious disappearances were deliberately seeded into open discussion threads, rapidly escalating into campus-wide protests.

According to police officials, thorough inquiries established no factual basis for any of the viral allegations. "Rumours on social media carrying unverified information l...