Police raids AMU after reports emerge PhD scholar Mannan Wani may have joined Hizbul

ALIGARH: The Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday conducted raids at the Aligarh Muslim University here in search of PhD student Mannan Wani, who went missing a few days back. 

Mannan, who hails from Jammu and Kashmir, recently appeared in a photograph posted on social media holding an AK-47 rifle, with a message claiming that he has joined militancy. 

"Mannan Wani, son of Bashir Ahmad Wani, joined Hizbul Mujahideen on January 5," read the message that appeared on WhatsApp and Facebook along with his photograph.

However, the Kupwara police expressed caution to the viral photo and said there is no confirmation yet on whether Mannan has joined militancy or not. IG of Kashmir suspected that Mannan's photograph may have been photoshopped by some miscreants and that they are trying to locate him. He was last seen in Delhi. 

Aligarh SSP Rajesh Pandey too asserted that while there are reports of Mannan joining Hizbul Mujahideen, there has been no confirmation on the same. 

Soon after the photograph went viral on the social media, the AMU administration suspended the PhD scholar from the college, said a news agency ANI report. 

Mannan Wani, a research scholar at AMU, suspended from college after a video of him with weapon went viral on social media, #Aligarh SSP Rajesh Pandey says 'there are reports of him joining Hizbul Mujahideen, can't reveal anything before verification' pic.twitter.com/LjEK636DBz — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 8, 2018

Mannan's brother, Mubashir Ahmad, reportedly said that he and his family have no idea whether he has joined militancy or not. As per Mubashir, they lost contact with Munnan on January 4 after his phone appeared to be switched off. 

Ater failing to contact Munnan, his family registered a missing report with police on Saturday.

As per another report, Mannan had left AMU a few days ago and was supposed to reach his home in Kupwara on January 3. 

Mannan had enrolled in AMU after successfully completing Bachelors in Geology and Earth Sciences from the University of Kashmir. He had also completed his Master's and MPhil in Geology from AMU. 

The official website of the university says that the 26-year-old Mannan was pursuing a PhD on 'Structural and Geo-Morphological Study of Lolab Valley, Kashmir'. He had also won an award for the best paper presentation at an International Conference in 2016. 

Wani's father is a lecturer while his brother Mubashir is an engineer.