Last location of JNU student Khalid’s phone traced to Shimla

A Delhi Police team has been sent to Shimla in Himachal Pradesh in search of Umar Khalid, former Democratic Students Union (DSU) member who is evading arrest in the sedition case registered in connection with the controversial JNU event.

A Delhi Police team has been sent to Shimla in Himachal Pradesh in search of Umar Khalid, former Democratic Students Union (DSU) member who is evading arrest in the sedition case registered in connection with the controversial JNU event.

The police are questioning family members, relatives, friends and colleagues of Khalid and other absconding students to trace their hideouts.(Vipin Kumar / Hindustan Times)

The team was rushed after Khalid’s last movements were traced there. The last location of Khalid’s cellphone also confirmed his presence in Shimla, said a police officer.

As teams of the south Delhi police have failed to trace Khalid and six other absconding students, including daughter of the CPI leader D. Raja, in the past one week, separate teams of the special cell, that primarily look into terror-related cases, and crime branch have also been roped in to arrest them at the earliest.

“All seven of them went underground soon after the police arrested JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar under sedition charges. They probably sensed that the police would arrest them as well,” said the officer.

The seven switched off their mobile phones soon after they learnt that the police had sent a notice to the university’s vice chancellor and sought details about them. Kanhaiya’s arrest made it certain for them that they were on police’s radar.

Investigators have also claimed to have found another video footage in which Kanhaiya, Khalid and others were allegedly seen raising slogans which were anti-RSS and pro-Afzal Guru, 2001 Parliament attack convict, on February 10 at the JNU campus, a day after anti-India slogans were shouted by a group of students led by Khalid and Kanhaiya.

The police are questioning family members, relatives, friends and colleagues of Khalid and other absconding students to trace their hideouts. Raids are being conducted in states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, and now in Himachal Pradesh, to arrest the seven students.