Picture of a 17-year-old Kashmiri boy and a student of private University in Noida — who went missing last week — surfaced on the social media  showing the boy in a black outfit that is dress code of terrorist group ISJK, an outfit influenced by ISIS ideology.

"We are looking for boy. We have no confirmation regarding the picture that went viral on the social media," said Ajay Pal Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Gautam Budh Nagar. 

According to a senior police official, the boy identified as Ahtesham Bilal Sofi is a resident of downtown Srinagar and was a first year graduation student at Sharda University in Noida.

"He went missing on October 28 after he left the varsity with official permission to go to Delhi, days after he was mistakenly roughed up during a scuffle between Indian and Afghan students on campus," said the senior police official.

"A missing complaint was registered in the case at the Knowledge Park police station in Greater Noida as well as at Khanyar police station in Srinagar," the senior police official added.

The UP Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) said it has been tracking the case since October 28 and has taken cognisance of the photos.

"We are in touch with Jammu and Kashmir police. We are tracking the footprints of the boy from Greater Noida to Kashmir," said Inspector General, ATS, Asim Arun.

The Gautam Buddh Nagar police, who had traced the last location of Sofi's mobile phone to terrorism-hit Pulwama district in South Kashmir, is also probing the matter.

"A missing complaint was registered and police teams are working on the case. Sofi had left for Srinagar from Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport in the afternoon of October 28 and reached Pulwama a few hours later. During investigation his mobile phone details showed that he last spoke to his father, who lives in Srinagar, at 4.30 pm, when his location was traced to Pulwama," said the police official. 

However, he had told his father that he was is Delhi and was returning to the university by metro, the police said.

Meanwhile former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said that reports claiming a Kashmiri student of a private university joined terrorist ranks in the Valley were "hugely worrying".

"If this is genuine (social media post about Sofi joining militant ranks), it's hugely worrying. Sometimes seemingly small actions have huge consequences (sic)," Abdullah wrote on Twitter