Najeeb case: HC says Delhi police beating around bush
New Delhi, May 12: The Delhi high court on Friday again rapped the Delhi police over the manner of its probe into the disappearance of JNU student Najeeb Ahmad, missing since October last year, saying the agency appeared to be looking for an “escape route” and “beating around the bush.”
A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Deepa Sharma said the conduct of the police showed it was trying to sensationalise the matter or looking for a way out as it was filing reports in sealed covers and “there was nothing confidential, damaging or crucial” in them.
The court was referring to the forensic analysis reports of the missing student’s laptop and call records that the police had filed in a sealed cover, but had initially not even shared with its own lawyer.
“This conduct itself ... You (police) pitch it (report) so high that you are sharing with us something so confidential which is not even shared with your trusted lawyer, gives us the impression that it was a fast one being played on us. We have to keep in mind the possibility that the police is trying to sensationalise or trying to find an escape route. We are left with the impression that the investigation is not being done properly,” the bench said.
The court also lashed out at the police saying it has been “beating around the bush and not in the bush” as it has been sending people across the country and setting up special investigating teams (SITs), but the nine students suspected to be behind Najeeb’s disappearance were not questioned on day one and neither were they taken into custody.