Student missing from JNU campus went to Patna for a ‘dip in Ganga’, say police
The student was reportedly last seen leaving JNU campus on Monday. Police say he returned on Thursday.
A research scholar from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) who had reportedly gone missing from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus on Monday had not been kidnapped, police said adding that the man had gone to Patna and returned on Thursday. The 29-year-old reportedly told police he had gone to Patna for a “dip in the Ganga”.
JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) president, Geeta Kumari took to Facebook on Thursday to announce the student’s safe return. “Mukul Jain, the missing student from SLS (School of Life Sciences) has been found. He went out for personal work and left his stuff in the lab [sic],” posted Kumari.
Jain, who is pursuing his research under a guide from IGNOU and a co-guide from JNU’s School of Life Sciences, was reportedly last seen leaving JNU on Monday. He was using a laboratory at the JNU for his research, his JNU co-guide said.
JNU spokesperson said that they had no information regarding where Jain had been.
Deputy commissioner of police (south-west) Milind Mahadeo Dumbere said that Jain claimed he had gone to Patna for “a dip in the Ganga” on Monday and had been there till Wednesday.
“He told as that he left for Patna immediately after leaving the JNU campus on Monday. He took a train from Delhi and reached there a day later. After spending a day in Patna, he took a train back and returned Thursday morning,” said Dumbere.
Dumbere added that it remained unclear why Jain had gone to Patna or what he did there. “All he has confided in us so far is that he had gone to take a dip in the Ganga,” said Dumbere.
Asked if the news of Jain’s disappearance going viral made him cut his trip short and return, Dumbere said it is an angle being looked into.
Jain’s disappearance drew headlines due to initial similarities with the 2016 disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed. Najeeb, a first year JNU biotechnology student went missing from a JNU hostel on October 15, 2016, the morning after a scuffle with students allegedly affiliated to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He is yet to be traced.