HC foxed' by no result on Najeeb's case; kin lose faith in Delhi police

New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Monday said it was “foxed” by the lack of information about missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed’s whereabouts even after five months of his disappearance, as his family sought that the probe be handed over to some other agency.

“It is very strange. Five to six months have gone by since he disappeared. Something should have come out, even if something worse has happened, it should have come out by now,” a bench of justices G S Sistani and Vinod Goel said, adding “that is why, we are foxed”.

Najeeb’s family said they wanted some other agency to probe the matter as they had no faith in the Delhi Police as its investigation has hit a dead-end.

They said if the police continues to probe the matter, every month it will come with some new story.

The bench then said every missing person was important and it does not talk highly of any society, if people go missing without any trace.

The bench asked the police to carry on its investigation in the manner it wants to, but in accordance with law.

The court’s observation came during the hearing of an application by one of the nine students, who are suspects in the case, seeking recall of the high court’s December 14 and December 22, 2016 orders.

The student’s lawyer said as per media reports, the high court in its orders had directed a lie-detector test of the nine students and sought a clarification on it.

The bench, thereafter, said it was neither monitoring the probe, nor has it directed that lie-detector test be carried out on anyone and it was the domain of the police to decide the manner in which investigation has to be carried out.

The court told the student’s lawyer that if his client does not want to undergo the test, he can refuse to do so.

Delhi Police, represented by senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra, told the court “they (students) can frustrate our probe, but we too are not helpless”.

In a status report filed before the court, the agency said some whatsapp messages were received by the police and family of Najeeb that he has been seen in Odisha and in Bijwasan area of Southwest Delhi and teams were sent to both places.

While nothing conclusive materialised from Bijwasan, the team sent to Odisha is yet to conclude its probe, Mehra said.

27-year-old Najeeb has been missing since October 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.

After the incident, his mother moved the high court with a habeas corpus plea seeking direction to the authorities to trace and produce her son.