Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar and other senior officials of the varsity were able to leave their office on Thursday afternoon, more than 24 hours after protesting students had locked them in to the administrative block, ANI reported. The students staged the lock-in three days after Najeeb Ahmed, a member of the All India Students' Association, was declared missing following a brawl with members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.

Kumar and the others' release came after Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh directed Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi to form a special team to find Ahmed, who is a first year MSc student at the university. The police registered a case of kidnapping on Sunday, October 17, after Ahmed was expelled from the hostel by the warden following the altercation with the ABVP the previous day. The police have announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for any information on Ahmed.

ABVP's Alok Sharma, however, said they that nothing to do with Ahmed's disappearance and were "unnecessarily being dragged into this".

Members of the JNU Students' Union had claimed that there had been no "illegal detention", of the university officials. JNUSU President Mohit Pandey said they had sent the university officials food and that they had electricity and other supplies. Moreover, hostel warden Dr Sushil Kumar, had alleged that Ahmed had gone missing before officials could inform him that they had decided he would be expelled.