600 cops comb JNU for clues to trace missing student Najeeb Ahmad

Over 600 Delhi Police personnel assisted by over a dozen sniffer dogs on Monday combed the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus, including hostels, classrooms, and forest areas to search for clues that could help them trace Najeeb Ahmad, the MSc student who went missing from the campus over two months ago.

The search operation that began around 10.30 am and continued till 5 pm was carried out following directions from the Delhi High Court that on Wednesday expressed concern over the missing JNU student and asked police to ‘scan’ the entire campus of the varsity.

Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (crime), said, “Our teams spent over six hours and covered 60% of the campus. The remaining areas will be searched on Tuesday.”

Read: JNU curbing protests, not engaging with us: Students

Led by deputy commissioner of police (crime) G Ram Gopal Naik, 600 men and women cops scanned the hostels, residential areas, academic blocks and green area. They also took help of the Mounted Police to scan the vast area but nothing was found.

“We divided the entire varsity campus into 12 zones, each headed by an ACP, using the Google map. Each ACP was given two sniffer dogs and handlers and 50 police personnel. They were tasked with scanning their respective zones,” said a senior police officer.

Around 11 am, a team of 25 personnel assisted by a sniffer dog reached Mahi-Mandavi hostel where Najeeb stayed. The dogs were left in Najeeb’s room for some minutes and made to smell Najeeb’s clothes and other belongings. Najeeb’s mother, Fatima, was present in the hostel during the combing operation. The canine was later taken to other room in the hostel.

“The sniffer dogs failed to make any headway and stopped after circling around in the hostel. The other sniffer dogs too failed to find any clue, even as they were taken on rooftops and around the underground water and septic tanks,” the officer said.

Najeeb went missing on October 15 after an alleged altercation with members of the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. A reward of Rs 10 lakh has been announced by the police on any information about Najeeb.

Read: Missing JNU student: ABVP members to be let off with a warning

Students have been protesting against alleged inaction by the administration and police in finding Najeeb.

JNU students’ union said that despite their requests the police did not do anything but now after the court order they are paying lip service by scanning the campus.

“65 days of Najeeb’s disappearance, what did Delhi Police do? Due to such a long delay in many important basic exercises they had already lost many important details,” the union said in a statement.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad said the “massive raids” were an attack on university’s autonomy. “While the order of the High Court must be respected, it’s essential to draw one’s attention to the attack on JNU’s autonomy,” said Saurabh Sharma, an ABVP member.

ENDS