Amidst the raging protests over the disappearance of a student from campus since last month, the security staff of Jawaharlal Nehru University found a pistol and some cartridges in an abandoned bag inside the campus in the early hours of Monday. A black bag containing a country-made 7.65 MM pistol, seven cartridges and a screw driver was found by a member of university’s security staff near the university’s gate from Baba Ganganath Marg road at around 2 AM, campus security officials said.”The security guard quickly informed the security control room and we informed police subsequently,” an official from University’s security department said. The campus security is being managed by a private security agency -G4S securities. JNU Chief Security Officer Naveen Yadav was not available for immediate comment.
JNU Chief Proctor A P Dimri said they have informed the police about the matter. However, he refused any further comment.
Meanwhile, Delhi police has registered a case against unknown persons following the recovery of arms and started investigating the case.This is the second time this year weapons have almost found their way inside JNU campus.
In April, a bag containing a loaded gun and a threatening letter was recovered from a JNU bound bus following the sedition controversy in which three JNU students were arrested by Delhi police. The threatening letter said that former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and another JNU student Umar Khalid will be decapitated. Delhi police had arrested two persons in connection with the case.One of the arrested persons was Saurabh, the younger brother of Uttar Pradesh Navnirman Sena chief Amit Jani. The recovery of weapons from the campus comes in the backdrop of intense protests over the disappearance of a first-year Masters student Najeeb Ahmad. Ahmad went missing from his hostel on October 15 a day after he had a brawl with some ABVP-affiliated students.
While the police has started investigating the case and announced reward for any information about Najeeb, there has been no breakthrough in the case as of now.
On Sunday, Delhi police cracked down on JNU students in order to prevent them to march towards India Gate to protest against the disappearance of Ahmad. The police also roughed up and dragged Najeeb’s mother and sister and detained them for hours before letting them go.