What happened on the night Najeeb disappeared? No one knows for sure

NEWDELHI: What happened to JNU student Najeeb Ahmed on the night of October 14, 2016?

Everyone present at the MahiMandavi Hostel on the night before the 28-year-old went missing appears to have their own version of the truth.

Vikrant, one of the ABVP activists who allegedly had a scuffle with Najeeb outside his room, claimed Najeeb slapped him without provocation. Vikrant, along with others had gone to Najeeb’s room to campaign for the election for the hostel mess committee. Vikrant, in his statement to police, has said some students gathered and there was some pushing around but nobody attacked Najeeb.

Najeeb’s roommate, Mohammed Qasim has said he was not present in the room when Vikrant arrived and the initial scuffle broke out. But he says he rushed to the room after hearing noises, where he saw Najeeb being beaten by Vikrant and others. He claims a crowd was beating Najeeb and derogatory comments were made against him.

Vikrant has admitted that a crowd had gathered at the room, but maintains that nobody manhandled Najeeb. The JNU Student’s Union alleged that Najeeb had to be taken to the bathroom to save him for the angry mob. They also alleged that while Najeeb was being taken to the warden’s office by security guards, he was beaten up.

Alimuddin, who was the then president of the Mahi-mandavi Hostel and a member of the NSUI, said that Najeeb was beaten not just by ABVP members but by members of other parties as well.

Going further, Shahid Raza Khan, who was then an independent candidate for the mess committee election, claimed he had seen Najeeb bleeding from his mouth. He also claimed to have heard Najeeb say, “Bhaiya galti ho gayi, maaf kar do.”

A letter reportedly written by Qasim to the warden was later circulated across campus, where he apparently said that he felt “threatened” by Najeeb’s behaviour. However, Qasim later claimed that a friend had written the letter and he had signed it without reading.

The investigators, too, did not appear to have followed a single line of probe. If one team believed Najeeb was kidnapped, another probed if this was a murder case. Teams even checked with railway stations across Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Haryana to see if he took his own life. The case has been investigated by the Vasant Kunj north police station officers, a fourmember special investigative team, Delhi Police’s Crime Branch and the CBI, but like the many units probing his disappearance, there are also many what-may-have-happened theories and little clarity.