COMPLETE LACK OF INTEREST BY CBI IN FINDING NAJEEB: HC
High court’s remarks came after contradictions in status report of the agency and what it said in court
NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Monday pulled up the CBI over the manner of its probe into the disappearance of JNU student Najeeb Ahmad, who went missing in October last year, saying “there was complete lack of interest” on part of the agency in pursuing the case. The remarks came as the bench found contradictions in the CBI’s submission in the court and its status report on the issue of analysis of the calls and messages of the suspected students in the case.
NEW DELHI : The Delhi high court on Monday pulled up the CBI for the manner in which it has been carrying out the probe into the disappearance of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmad, who went missing in October last year, saying “there was complete lack of interest” on the part of the central agency in pursuing the case.
A bench of justice GS Sistani and justice Chander Shekhar observed there was “no result either way. No result even on paper”. The strong remarks came as the bench found contradictions in the CBI’s submission in court and its status report pertaining to the calls and messages of the students suspected to be involved in the disappearance.
The agency’s counsel said the call details records (CDR) of the accused in the case was analysed but the court noted that “it is not mentioned in the status report”.
The court was hearing the plea of the missing student’s mother, Fatima Nafees, who has sought the court’s help in tracing her son, who disappeared from JNU’s Mahi-Mandvi hostel on October 16 last year after a fight with members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of BJP’s ideological mentor, RSS.
The Delhi Police registered a case on kidnapping charges and formed a special investigation team (SIT). The probe was later handed over to the crime branch. Moreover, the reward money for information on Najeeb’s whereabouts was increased from ₹1 lakh to ₹10 lakh. No one has come forward with any information since the announcement.
On a plea from Najeeb’s mother, the HC handed the probe to the CBI in May this year but there has not been any positive development in the case so far.
It said that the agency should reveal what it has found in its investigation so far. Irked by the lack of details in the report, the court said the deputy inspector general of police was not supervising the probe properly.
“If this is the supervision of the DIG, what will happen when there is no supervision? ...We direct the concerned DIG to ensure that the status report is filed under his signature or at least he should read them.”
The court said it will ask the DIG to be present on next date of hearing but later dropped its order after the CBI counsel assured it that they will submit a better status report next time.
Advocate Kamini Jaiswal, representing Najeeb’s mother, said the CBI overlooked two aspects — the CDR of the nine accused, along with their location on that day and the examination of WhatsApp records.