NEW DELHI: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday ordered Delhi Police to set up a special team to trace a missing JNU student even as its Vice Chancellor and some other top officials were allowed to leave their offices after being under siege by agitating students for over 20 hours.
The agitating students, who have been accusing the JNU administration of not doing enough to trace All India Student Association (AISA) member Najeeb Ahmed, said they have not softened their stand and
allowed Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar and others to leave their offices only to attend a scheduled meeting of the Academic Council.
“Spoke to Commissioner of Police Delhi regarding the incident. I have instructed him to constitute a special team to locate the student,” said Singh. As the students’ protest over the missing student
entered the sixth day, the Home Minister directed the Delhi Police to set up a special team to trace Najeeb who went missing on Saturday following a brawl with a group of ABVP supporters in a JNU hostel.
The students did not allow the V-C and around 12 other officials to come out of the administrative building since on Wednesday afternoon though mediapersons were allowed to go inside it. JNU teachers association criticised the confinement of the VC and others. “This is complete anarchy by the Left brigade in JNU. Many of the officials inside have serious medical conditions they were also not allowed to go out and even their families were not allowed to visit them,” said Hari Ram Mishra, Sanskrit teacher.
The V-C warned the students of strict action over the “illegal confinement”. The V-C said several rounds of talks were held to convince the students about sincerity of the university authority to locate
Najeeb but they were continuing with their “illegal” activities”. Rejecting allegations of inaction, he said the administration had written to the police about the missing student and an inquiry by the university will be expedited and “guilty” punished. Later, Delhi Police said they have formed a special investigation team (SIT) to trace Najeeb.
Speaking on the incident, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, said, “It is wrong to confine V-C and other officials. All activities should be done within the law.”
An FIR for kidnapping and wrongfully confining a person was lodged at Vasant Kunj North police station after the police received a complaint from the student’s guardians.
JNU students union president Mohit Pandey said, “He has gone missing after the scuffle with ABVP members. They definitely know about his whereabouts. We will continue with our agitation till he
is traced”. Alok Singh, president of JNU’s ABVP unit, said, “From the beginning of the issue, they have been claiming that ABVP has a role in this. “We have nothing to do with this. We had our suspicion on Qasim who is Najeeb’s roommate and had demanded action against him in the past”.
Meanwhile, former JNUSU joint secretary and ABVP member Saurabh Sharma has received a threat letter alleging his role in the missing case.
(With inputs from PTI)