The Delhi Police on Monday sent its teams with sniffer dogs to Jawaharlal Nehru University to look for missing student Najeeb Ahmad. The teams will scan the entire campus, including hostel rooms, classrooms and rooftops.

This came after the Delhi High Court on December 9 criticised the police force and asked how the first-year student could “vanish suddenly”. Ahmad disappeared from the campus on October 15 after a brawl with members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on the university campus.

The JNU Students’ Union has agreed to the search operation. “JNUSU had given affidavit that they will cooperate after which the search is being carried out in the campus. It started around 10 am today [Monday],” JNUSU President Mohit Pandey told Scroll.in.

On November 25, the Delhi High Court issued notices to the state government and the police in connection with the case. It also asked the Delhi Police to file a status report in the matter. The court’s directive came after Ahmad’s mother Fatima Nafees filed a petition with the court, seeking the formation of a special investigation team to look into the case.

The case of the missing student has snowballed on and off campus. On November 15, the university administration had denied permission to the JNU students’ union to hold a protest march in solidarity with Ahmad. The administration had said the protest could have caused unrest leading to security threats on campus. On November 6, the Delhi Police had detained Ahmad’s mother and a group of students while they were protesting against the administration’s inaction in the case.