Exactly a year after JNU student Najeeb Ahmed went missing from the campus following a scuffle with alleged ABVP members, the Delhi High Court today slammed the CBI for its "complete lack of interest" in the case.
"There is complete lack of interest by the CBI," the court said while hearing the plea of Najeeb's mother, Fatima Nafees. The court added that there is no result - "not even on paper", a reference to the status report filed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR
On October 15 last year, Najeeb, a student of M Sc Biotechnology, went missing from the Mahi-Mandvi hostel of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) following an alleged altercation with several students affiliated to the BJP's student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
.Najeeb's family members are still running from pillar to post to trace him. His mother Fatima Nafees had moved the Delhi High Court in November last year, seeking directions to the police to trace her son.
The court had handed over the probe to the CBI five months ago. A bench of Justices G S Sistani and Chander Shekhar observed that there was "no result either ways. No result even on paper".
The strong remarks by the bench came after contradictions appeared in what the CBI said in court and what it had indicated in its status report on the issue of analysis of the calls and messages of the suspect students in the case.
In November last year, the High Court had directed the Delhi Police to "explore all angles" and "cut across political barriers" to trace the young man, saying no one could just vanish from the heart of the national capital. However, the police failed to sniff out any lead even after pressing 600 personnel and several sniffer dogs into service.
The case was handed over to the CBI after the High Court was dissatisfied with no progress made by the Delhi Police. The premier intelligence agency, however, is also clueless.
In July this year, the CBI sought more time from the court to investigate the case. Nearly a month later, when the agency failed to file a fresh progress report in the case, the court rebuked it, saying the probe was not transferred to the agency "for fun". On September 6, the court again directed the CBI to take steps to trace Najeeb.
The CBI counsel informed the court that the agency had examined 26 people, including JNU officials, staff, Najeeb's friends, colleagues and those who had issues with him, during its investigation. The agency also told the court that the matter was widely publicised in 12 cities and that several mortuaries were also being monitored.
Last weekend, Najeeb's relatives and friends protested outside the CBI headquarters in New Delhi in the hope of getting an answer from the agency. They spent the entire Friday night on the streets, demanding Najeeb's whereabouts.
The night vigil was the extension of a demonstration staged during the day on Friday by hundreds of protesters, some of whom even got into a brief scuffle with police while trying to get past barricades put in place to stop them from gathering.
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