CBI seeks more time to investigate missing JNU student's case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday told the Delhi High Court that it has been investigating the case of missing Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmed, for merely a month and requires more time to investigate it.

A division bench of Justice G.S. Sistani and Justice Chander Shekhar asked the CBI to file status report on the progress of the case and posted the matter for August 8 after the agency sought more time.

The Delhi High Court on May 16 had asked the CBI to probe the case of Najeeb Ahmed, who has been untraced since he disappeared nine months ago after an alleged altercation with ABVP members.

The court had handed over the case to the CBI with immediate effect, after the Delhi Police Crime Branch said it has no objection if the court transfers the case to another probe agency.

The court has been hearing a habeas corpus plea filed by Fatima Nafees, Najeeb Ahmed's mother, that her son be produced by police and the Delhi government before the court.

Najeeb, 27, a first year M.Sc. student, went missing from his JNU hostel on the night of October 14-15 last year, allegedly after a row with members of RSS' student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

The ABVP has denied any involvement in his disappearance.

The counsel of Najeeb's mother had said that the nine suspected students, who assaulted and threatened Najeeb before he went missing, were given "VIP treatment" by the Delhi Police and their custodial interrogation was not taken till date. He said there have been delays at every level and various lapses in the probe of Delhi Police.

Earlier, the court had pulled up police for not questioning the nine students on the first day and for not taking them into custody.

The nine students have neither given their consent nor refusal for a lie detector test in the case. The court had said that it can not force them to take the polygraph test but they themselves should come forward and give consent.

--IANS

gt/vd