No clue of missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed despite efforts, CBI tells Delhi high court

The CBI in its eighth status report informed a bench of Delhi high court they are yet to ascertain the whereabouts of Najeeb, who went missing from JNU campus after an alleged brawl with some ABVP students.

A year after taking over the probe in the case of the missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that they had announced an award of Rs 10 lakh to anyone providing clues about Najeeb.

Najeeb Ahmad’s mother Fatima Nafees at a protest in Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on October 28, 2016.(Sonu Mehta/HT File Photo)

The agency also informed the court that they had sought the assistance of the Interpol for issuing a yellow notice to ascertain his whereabouts.

In its eighth status report since the time it has been handed the probe on May 16 last year, the CBI informed a bench of Justice S Muralidhar and Justice IS Mehta that despite all efforts, they are yet to ascertain the whereabouts of Najeeb, who went missing from the varsity campus after an alleged brawl with some ABVP students.

“It is stated that no information has been received about the missing student from any part of the country. Even the assistance of Interpol has been sought for the issuance of Yellow notice. A reward of Rs 10,00,000 has been announced for providing clues about the missing student,” the court said in its order.

Appearing for the CBI, its counsel Nikhil Goel informed the court that they are “yet to find concrete leads with respect to the persons specifically named by the Petitioner” (Fatima Nafees). It also said that out of the nine mobile phones of suspected students, three have not been examined as two of them are not in “working order” and the third one is protected with a pattern lock.

He also said they will be sending the said mobiles to Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad, to examine them. Following this, the bench directed that the phones should be immediately sent to Hyderabad and should submit a report no later than one month.

During the proceedings on Friday, Fatima Nafees, Najeeb’s mother expressed her anguish and frustration on the slow pace of probe by the CBI and has lost faith in the probe agency.

Appearing for her, senior advocate Collin Gonsalves sought Rs 10,000 from the court for every hearing that the mother has been coming to the court from Badaun. Besides, he also sought that the task of analysing CBI record be entrusted to a former judge for better assistance.

The bench said that it would listen to the arguments in this aspect on July 12 while fixing it as the next date of hearing.