PhD student disappears, last seen on JNU campus

New Delhi: The Delhi police has started investigating the case of a Ph.D. scholar from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (Ignou), who has allegedly gone missing from Jawaharlal Nehru University campus, the police said on Wednesday.

Mukul Jain, a research fellow, went missing on Monday afternoon. Jain is pursuing his research under a guide from Ignou and a co-guide from JNU. Jain used a laboratory at JNU for his research.

Najeeb Ahmed, a JNU student, had also gone missing from campus on October 15, 2016 following a scuffle.

Some reports say Jain was last seen at an SLS laboratory at around 12 pm, while a CCTV footage shows Jain leaving JNU campus around 12.30 pm. Jain’s family had approached JNU authorities after he failed to return home till late in the evening on Monday. Upon going through the CCTV footage of the campus, authorities found clips showing Jain leaving through Gate No. 4. Mukul Jain’s mobile phone and wallet were later found in the laboratory. “The student is not registered with JNU, but works under a co-guide here. The family was shown the footage in which he was seen leaving the campus on foot. We have not registered a (police) complaint yet as the family has already registered it,” Naveen Yadav, chief security officer of JNU, said. Jain is a resident of Ghaziabad.