CBI Files 'Sketchy' Report on JNU Student Najeeb's Disappearance, Says Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court on Monday reprimanded the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for filing a "sketchy" status report on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmad's mysterious disappearance case.

Najeeb, a M.Sc. (Biotechnology) student, went missing from his hostel (Mahi Mandavi) room on October 14 last year following a scuffle with few students associated from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) - a student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

"In a case that is being followed by all the fact that there was nothing in the status report shows the lack of seriousness of the case," said a bench of Justice GS Sistani and Justice Chandrashekar rebuking the CBI that the "higher officers are not even reading the status report, which is signed by the inspector".

The court was hearing a habeas corpus filed by Najeeb's mother Fatima Nafees.

When the High Court transferred the case to the CBI in May 2017, it was directed that the investigation would be supervised by an officer not less the rank of the DIG.

They said that the DIG should be present in front of the court from the next hearing onwards.

The CBI has moved an application for summoning the nine accused persons for conducting a lie-detector test in the court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM), Patiala House.

The judges have ordered that the CBI should move another application today itself to conduct this test at the earliest. The next date of hearing has been fixed for January 2018.

The CBI claimed that they have analysed the call records of the accused. However, there was nothing in their status report along these lines.

The judges ordered that the CBI must not only analyse the call records but also submit the location details and WhatsApp messages of the accused individually and in their groups.

Justice Sistani said, "If the CBI has already analysed the call records and they have found nothing in them, then what stops them from saying so in the status report?" Why the CBI is not eager to put anything about the accused persons on record remains a persistent question."

As there was nothing in the status report, the judges asked as to why they were not sharing it with the mother, who is the petitioner in this case.

The CBI lawyer shielded the accused on the pretext that they are students of the JNU. The judges observed that if there is an allegation, then no matter who is involved it has to be investigated. There can be no excuse on the grounds that they are students.

The court made the CBI lawyer admit the report submitted today by the agency was "sketchy".

This is not the first time when the court has made such a strong observation in the case. In a previous hearing, the court had rebuked the agency saying, "You are making a fun of this case."

After Najeeb's disappearance, the Delhi Police had lodged a case of abduction on the complaint of the mother on October 16, 2016.

At the end of the month, the city police announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for anyone providing information to locate Najeeb. Award amount was gradually increased to Rs 5 lakhs by the end of November 2016.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was set up on October 20, last year, on the instruction of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

The Delhi Police transferred the case to its Crime Branch on November 16, 2016.

After mother Fatima Nafees filed a habeas corpus in the Delhi High Court on November 25, 2016, the CBI was asked by the court on May 16, 2017, to probe the case as the city cops could not make much progress even after six months.

The CBI filed a FIR for “kidnapping with intent to secretly and wrongfully confine” Najeeb on June 3, 2017. More than four months have passed since the country’s premier investigating agency took over the case, yet no progress has been made.