Two Jawaharlal Nehru University students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, facing the charge of sedition, surrendered before the police late on Tuesday night, hours after the Delhi High Court refused to grant them protection from arrest.
The duo, who returned to the JNU campus last Sunday after having gone missing since February 12, drove from the administrative bloc to the main gate of the university, got into a Delhi Police vehicle and were taken to an undisclosed destination.
Police sources said Khalid and Bhattacharya surrendered at around midnight.
The two have been placed under police custody at South Campus police station. They will be produced before a magistrate tomorrow morning, the sources said.
Khalid and Bhattacharya are among the five students who, along with JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, had allegedly shouted anti-national slogans at an event organised in the university campus to mark the death anniversary of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru on February 9.
Besides Kumar, Khalid and Bhattacharya, the other students are Rama Naga, Ashutosh Kumar and Anant Prakash.
"Comrade Umar and Comrade Anirban have surrendered themselves to police. It's a moment of sadness for the campus because we have seen these activists for years standing with the students," Shehla Rashid, vice president of JNU Students Union (JNUSU) said in a statement.
"They have placed their faith in the law and we hope that they will be released soon. We also hope that Comrade Kanhaiya gets bail tomorrow," she said.
A case against Khalid and Bhattacharya was registered at Vasant Kunj police station.
Both the students were accompanied by their lawyers and the representatives of JNU teachers association.
After the surrender of the students, their supporters gathered at Sabarmati Dhaba in the campus.
Delhi Police had issued a look-out notice on February 20 against Khalid, Bhattacharya, Naga, Ashutosh and Prakash.
Earlier, Khalid and Bhattacharya left the JNU campus at around 1150 pm tonight for the surrender.
The university students formed a human chain to prevent the media from following Khalid and Bhattacharya when they were leaving the campus this evening.
