The Delhi High Court yesterday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the case of missing Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmad, who disappeared seven months ago after an alleged altercation with activists of a students’ union.
A division bench of Justice G S Sistani and Justice Rekha Palli handed over the case to the CBI with immediate effect, after the Delhi police said they had no objection if the court transfers the case to another agency.
The court asked that further investigation be carried out by the CBI under the supervision of an officer not lower than the rank of deputy inspector general.
Advocate Rahul Mehra, appearing for the Delhi police, told the court that the police have carried out the investigation in fair manner and made a pan-India search for Ahmad, but he could not be traced.
The court’s order came while hearing a habeas corpus plea filed by Ahmad’s mother Fatima Nafees, that her son be produced by police and the Delhi government before the court.
Ahmed, 27, a first year MSc student, went missing from his JNU hostel on the night of October 14 last year, allegedly after a row with members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ wing of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The ABVP has denied involvement in his disappearance.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who appeared for the student’s mother, had sought to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) with officers from other states. He said the inquiry by Delhi police was “politically motivated”.
The lawyer said that the nine suspected students, who assaulted and threatened Ahmad before he went missing, were given “VIP treatment” by the police and their custodial interrogation was not taken till date.”
He said there have been delays at every level and various lapses in the probe by the Delhi police.
Earlier on May 3, a sessions court quashed a lower court order that asked the nine students to appear before it to record their consent or refusal for a lie detector test.
Additional Sessions Judge Siddharth Sharma dismissed a magisterial court’s order dated March 30 and rejected the notice of the Delhi police.
The sessions court also granted liberty to issue fresh notice related to lie detector test of the students.
Patiala House Court Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sumit Dass had earlier asked the students to appear before the court.
The Delhi police had issued a notice to the students and asked them to appear before it for a lie detector test.
However, the students had opposed the police’s move.
Earlier in February, the Delhi police were pulled up by the high court over their slow progress in the case.
“The student had gone missing in October 2016; it is February now. Nearly four months have gone by and none of the leads are going anywhere. We asked for a polygraph test as the other leads have not yielded any results,” the court observed.
The next hearing in the case is on July 17.
Ahmad: mystery continues
