The Delhi High Court on Friday again rapped the city police over the probe into the disappearance of JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, missing since October last year, saying the agency appeared to be looking for an “escape route” and “beating around the bush”.
A Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Deepa Sharma said the conduct of the police showed that they were trying to sensationalise the matter or looking for a way out as they were filing reports in sealed covers and “there was nothing confidential, damaging or crucial” in them.
The court was referring to the forensic analysis reports of the student’s laptop and call records that the police had filed in a sealed cover, but had initially not even shared with their own lawyer.
‘No headway’
The court also lashed out at the police saying they have been “beating around the bush and not in the bush”.
It said the police had been sending people across the country and setting up special investigating teams (SITs), but the nine students suspected to be behind Najeeb’s disappearance were neither questioned not taken into custody.
Noting that the messages of the suspected students have not yet been examined, the court said if the messages of the period when Najeeb went missing have been deleted, “then that in itself is incriminating”. It also told the police to be not “judgemental” about the medical condition of Najeeb.
‘All angles examined’
Responding to the court’s observations, DCP Ram Gopal Naik, who heads the SIT, told the court how he went about investigating the case and what all aspects and angles were considered by him.
