Kashmiri student roughed up at Greater Noida’s Sharda University goes ‘missing’

A 17-year-old Kashmiri student, who was roughed up by a mob of students at Sharda University in Greater Noida earlier this month, has been missing since the last three days, according to university authorities and his parents. Police, however, said probe has indicated that the student has travelled to Jammu.

Ehtisham Bilal, a first year student of Bachelors in Medical Imaging Technology (BMIT) has been missing since Sunday when he had gone on a sight-seeing trip to Delhi from Greater Noida. Bilal, who belongs to Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, had enrolled in Sharda University three months ago. He lived in varsity a hostel at the Knowledge Park area in Greater Noida.

“On Sunday, I called by son around 10.30am and he informed me that he is going to Delhi for some sight-seeing as it was a holiday. Then, around 4.39pm, I called him again and he informed me that his trip had ended and he was boarding a Metro to Noida within the next 15 minutes. When I asked him what places he went to in Delhi, he said he will send me the pictures on WhatsApp once he reached his hostel campus. That was the last time I spoke to him as when I called him again around 6pm, his phone was switched off,” Bilal Ahmad, father of Ehtisham, said.

However, Arvind Pathak, the station house officer of Knowledge Park police station said that the student’s location has been traced to Jammu.

“Till around noon, his phone location was in Delhi and by around 2pm, his location was traced to Jammu. We suspect he caught a flight from Delhi and reached there. We are making all efforts to trace him and a case has been lodged,” Pathak, said.

“Ehtisham had informed his hostel warden that he would be meeting a friend in Delhi on Sunday and would return by the evening. When he did not return, we reported about it to the police by Monday morning. We are in constant touch with his parents,” said Ajit Kumar, spokesperson, Sharda University.