Najeeb probe: High court pulls up CBI for filing same report twice

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday pulled up the CBI for filing the same report regarding its probe into disappearance of JNU student Najeeb Ahmad that was placed before it during the last hearing in July.

The case was “not transferred to the agency for fun...There is nothing new. It is the same report of July 17. We did not adjourn matter on that date to examine this two-and-a-half page scrap today,” a bench of Justice GS Sistani and Justice Chander Shekhar said to the agency.

The court directed the CBI to file a fresh status report before the next date of hearing on September 6. “What was the idea of listing it today? Just to say the report has been filed,” it asked.

During the hearing, the bench asked the CBI what happened in the interrogation of the persons accused of assaulting the missing student the night before his disappearance.

The agency replied it would indicate it in its status report. The CBI said there was progress in its investigation and it was sure it would “crack the case” but said it would take some time. It said that as part of its probe, it was examining the earlier investigation carried out by Delhi Police.

The high court had on May 16 ordered the CBI to take over the probe into the mysterious circumstances surrounding his disappearance since October 2016.

The order was passed on the plea of Najeeb’s mother, Fatima Nafees, who moved the court on November 25 last for tracing her son, a first-year MSc Biotechnology student who went missing from JNU hostel Mahi Mandavi.

The student went missing on October 15, 2016 after an altercation with some ABVP members. The students denied any hand.

The JNU Students Union also criticised the CBI for “not moving an inch” in the case . The students body has planned a demonstration outside the CBI headquarters on Wednesday to protest the “partisan and apathetic attitude” of the investigation agency.