The research scholar believed to have gone missing from the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus in Delhi on Monday returned to his house in Ghaziabad on Thursday after a trip to Patna. The police said he had gone to Bihar for a “dip in the Ganga”, the Hindustan Times reported.

“He told us that he left for Patna immediately after leaving the JNU campus on Monday,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (South West) Milind Mahadeo Dumbere. “He took a train from Delhi and reached there a day after. After spending a day in Patna, he took a train back and returned Thursday morning.

Mukul Jain is pursuing his PhD under a guide from the Indira Gandhi National Open University and a co-guide from JNU’s School of Life Sciences. Before his return on Thursday, the 29-year-old was last seen leaving a laboratory on the JNU campus on Monday.

The deputy commissioner said it was unclear why he went to Patna to take a dip in the river. They are looking into whether it was the viral news of his disappearance that made Jain decide to return. However, PTI quoted a senior officer as saying that Jain was depressed after splitting with his girlfriend and had decided to go to Patna leaving behind his phone and ATM card in the JNU laboratory.

Jain’s disappearance drew attention as there is still no trace of a JNU scholar who went missing in October 2016. Najeeb Ahmed was last spotted getting into an autorickshaw on the campus on October 15, 2016, allegedly after a scuffle at his hostel with activists from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

The Central Bureau of Investigation is looking into Ahmed’s disappearance. The Delhi High Court, on December 21, 2017, asked the agency to submit its forensic report in the case as soon as possible. The court will hear the case next on February 27.