100 days on; Police clueless about Najeeb Ahmed, quizzes friend

New Delhi: Unable to trace a clue about JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, who has been missing for over a hundred days now, the Delhi Crime Branch questioned a friend of his who had studied with him in Aligarh Muslim University and joined the probe on his own.

“As part of our ongoing efforts, we have started calling close friends and relatives who may throw some light or help in getting some clue about Najeeb’s whereabouts,” said a senior police officer.

“A man was questioned in connection with the case. He was studying with Najeeb at Aligarh Muslim University from 2008 to 2010. We were searching for him in his native town Farukkhabad but we got to know that he is studying in Jamia and today he came on his own to join the probe,” said a source privy to the probe.

Sources said that Najeeb’s friends and relatives have been served notices under section 160 CrPc to help in the probe, even as the police told Delhi High Court earlier this week that they did not turn up to assist in the probe.

Even though Najeeb and his friend were studying different subjects, they were quite close and today he was questioned by Crime Branch sleuths who are investigating the case.

When Crime Branch had begun the investigation, they had traced an auto driver who had dropped Najeeb at Jamia Millia Islamia after picking up from JNU.

The student is being questioned in this regard, the source said.

Last week, a man was arrested for allegedly making a ransom call to missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed’s relatives demanding Rs. 20 lakh for his release.

The accused, Shameem (19), has been taken to Gorakhpur to recover the SIM cards that he had used to make calls to Najeeb’s family.

Shameem was arrested last week from Maharajganj UP and was brought to Delhi today and put through sustained interrogation by Crime Branch sleuths.

On January 23, Delhi Police claimed that nine JNU students who were served notices to join the probe have not joined it despite being sent reminders and are not even responding to phone calls and messages.

Mohd Qasim, Najeeb’s roommate, has not given his consent for the lie-detector test despite agreeing to it earlier, it told the Delhi High Court.

More than 600 Delhi Police personnel, assisted by sniffer dogs, had scanned the sprawling JNU campus for two days last month but could not find any clues of the missing student.

Last year, in November, a guard at JNU’s Mahi Mandavi Hostel where Najeeb was staying had received a letter a few days ago which stated that the student was being held captive in Aligarh. However, on verification, the letter was found to be bogus.

Najeeb has been missing since October 15 after a scuffle at his hostel allegedly with ABVP students on the night of October 14. A reward of Rs. 10 lakh has been announced by Delhi Police on any information about Najeeb.