Suspicious that there was “something more” to JNU student Najeeb Ahmed’s disappearance, the Delhi High Court on Monday asked why the status report of the Delhi Police made no mention of the alleged on-campus scuffle or the injuries sustained by Najeeb.
A Bench of Justices G. S. Sistani and Vinod Goel asked the police why its status report, filed in the court on November 22, didn’t mention the alleged on-campus scuffle between Najeeb and some members of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad, and the injuries sustained by Najeeb.
Refusing to believe that a person can just disappear in Delhi, the Bench said: “This is the national Capital. No one can just disappear from here. If Najeeb disappeared, then there is something more to that. All angles have to be explored. Forty-five days is a long period for someone to remain underground,” the Bench told the Delhi Police, which maintained that Najeeb was not abducted forcibly.
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“Cut across all political barriers. Get him back. You will get your answers at either of two places: Jamia or JNU. No need to go to Aligarh or any other place so far,” the Bench told the police, which had said that an auto-rickshaw driver claimed to have dropped Najeeb off at Jamia Milia Islamia.
The court also asked the police why Najeeb was taken to Safdarjung Hospital in an ambulance if he had no apparent or visible injuries, since this detail was missing from the police report.
The police also faced searching questions as to why it waited till November 11 to interrogate the persons with whom Najeeb allegedly had an altercation with on the night of October 14-15 — just hours prior to his disappearance. A criminal complaint was lodged against the persons on October 17.
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Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has raised to Rs.10 lakh the reward amount for anyone providing information that could help locate Najeeb, who has been missing for over a month now.
Initially, the reward amount was Rs.50,000.