Kashmiri student roughed up at Greater Noida varsity goes ‘missing’
SRINAGAR: 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 four 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 my 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 4.39 pm, 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.
On October 4, Ehtisham Bilal was roughed up by a mob of students who had mistaken him for an Afghan national, during the recent Indo-afghan students clash at the varsity. Bilal was caught in the middle of the sporadic violence which had shaken the campus for a week. He had been admitted in a hospital. Later, the university management had suspended ten students for the violence after the police had lodged an FIR against 350 students of the Sharda University.
“I had flown to Greater Noida on the night of October 4 after my son was attacked by students. Despite assurances from the police and the administration, I did not lodge an FIR in the case. After he went missing, I lodged a missing person’s case with the Knowledge Park police station,” said Ahmad.
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 12pm, 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.
The university management said they had reported about the missing student on Monday.
SPECULATING MILITANCY CONNECT
After his phone location was traced to Jammu, J&K police are looking into the connection with the militancy while his parents are suspecting abduction.
The officer was not certain if there could be any ‘militancy connection’.
“I don’t think but who knows for sure,” he said, adding, “Bilal was friends with Fahad Waza who later joined militancy and was killed in an encounter at Fateh Kadal on October 17.”
The mother of Ehtisham Bilal made passionate appeals in a video uploaded on social media saying he should be allowed to go if he is with anybody.
Bilal said that he was clueless about any reasons into the disappearance of Ehtisham. “I have no idea,” he said.
The father is making efforts to trace him after reports of his location on Sunday was traced in Jammu.
Bilal said that he has demanded CCTV footage from Srinagar airport authorities to see if Ehtisham has arrived by air.
“I will take along police tomorrow to see the footage and see if we get any clue,” Bilal said.
BILAL’S FRIEND FAHAD WAZA HAD JOINED MILITANCY AND WAS KILLED IN AN ENCOUNTER AT FATEH KADAL ON OCTOBER 17