New Delhi: No one appears to be happy with Delhi Police’ investigation to trace the missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, the Delhi High Court observed on Monday.
“No one, be it the roommate or the family of the student or nine suspected students, appears to be happy with the manner in which the investigation is being carried on,” a bench of Justices GS Sistani and Vinod Goel said.
The observation came during the hearing of a habeas corpus plea moved by Najeeb’s mother seeking a direction to the authorities to trace her son who is missing since the night of October 14-15 last year. Meanwhile, Delhi Police, represented by senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra, told the court that lie-detector tests are going to be “simultaneously conducted” on Najeeb’s roommate, the nine students who are suspects in the case and some others.
Mehra said the nine students are not being singled out for the polygraph test and the submission was taken on record by the court. This was stated during the hearing of an application by one of the nine students who has challenged a Delhi Police notice asking him to appear before the trial court to give consent for the test.
The high court was on Monday told that the matter in the trial court has been adjourned to February 22.
Advocate Pallavi Sharma, appearing for Najeeb’s mother, said that the nine students only have to say yes or no to the test as no one can force them to undergo it, so there is no need for them to be apprehensive. Thereafter, in view of the submission made by Delhi Police, the bench listed the matter for further hearing on March 16.
On February 13, the court had said it was “foxed” by the lack of information about Najeeb’s whereabouts even after five months of his disappearance as his family sought that the probe be handed over to some other agency. Najeeb’s family had said they wanted some other agency to probe the matter as they had no faith in Delhi Police as its investigation has hit a dead-end.
27-year-old Najeeb has been missing since October 14-15 last year after a scuffle at his JNU hostel allegedly with ABVP activists the previous night. The RSS students’ wing has denied any involvement in his disappearance.