New Delhi: Suspects in the disappearance case of a JNU student have not been cooperating and not responding to notices for lie-detector tests, the Delhi Police told the Delhi high court in an affidavit.
The student, Najeeb Ahmed, went missing last October after he got into an argument with ABVP student activists the night before at the JNU hostel. The court had earlier directed the police to solve the matter expeditiously.
The Delhi Police contended before a bench of Justices GS Sistani and Vinod Goel that the “students should come forward and prove their innocence in connection with the case, otherwise their non-cooperation will only raise doubt about their involvement in the case”.
“We (Delhi Police’s Crime Branch) have issued them notice on different occasions, but they refused to accept it. We are even calling them on their mobile phone and have also sent WhatsApp messages, but they are not responding.”
“Najeeb’s roommate, Mohd Qasim, is also not cooperating in the investigation, due to which a needle of suspicion also goes towards him,” senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra, who was representing the Delhi police, said.
He said that everybody should come forward and cooperate in the probe, so that the student, who went missing three-and-a-half months ago, is found.
“If lie-detector tests are done on them, we may get some clue or if not we may investigate in some other direction, so that the student is found, before its too late,” Mr Mehra said. He submitted during interrogation two of the nine even refused to give their residential addresses .
Senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, appearing for one of the students, opposed the police, saying his client was cooperative and ready to appear before the agency, but the probe should be done in a fair manner.
To which, the bench said that “practically if some person is given notice, he should come forward and then he can deny or accept allegations”.
Najeeb’s mother moved the high court with a habeas corpus plea.
