Step up efforts to trace JNU student: Najeeb Jung to Delhi police

A day after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal criticised the city police for failing to trace a JNU student, missing since October 15, Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on Friday asked the force to speed up their efforts.

The Lt Governor today held a meeting with top cops, including Special Commissioner (law and order), Joint CP (South-East Range), Head of SIT and took stock of the investigation in the case, LG office said in a statement.

He also increased the reward money from Rs one lakh to Rs two lakh for giving information about the whereabouts of the missing student.

27-year-old Najeeb Ahmed, a student of School of Biotechnology and a native of Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, went missing on October 15 following an on-campus scuffle allegedly with the members of ABVP the night before. Jung directed the police that no effort be spared to trace the student.

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In the meeting, police told the LG that all out efforts were being made to trace Najeeb. They said that over 20,000 posters have been pasted in Delhi and outside.

The force also apprised the Lt Governor that the entire incident has been repeatedly re-examined and that areas in and around Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) searched comprehensively several times.

“SIT probing the case has verified over 300 autorickshaws plying in the area. It has so far deployed about 150 police personnel, including two teams per district,” the statement said.

It also stated that teams have been sent to Ajmer, Kota, Bareilley, Roorkee, Faizabad, Azamgarh, Badaun and other neighbouring cities.

“Many of Najeeb’s former teachers, friends and relatives have been contacted, including the schools and other educational institutions which he attended. CCTV cameras at various locations including metro, ISBT, railway stations and tolls are being scanned,” it said.

While participating in a solidarity meeting at JNU yesterday, Kejriwal had said that Najeeb would come back only when Prime Minister Narendra Modi could be made to realise that he was losing votes over the issue.

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Kejriwal, who has had frequent run-ins with the Delhi Police, said the force would not dare to pursue any investigation in this regard as “RSS students’ wing ABVP was involved in the brawl following which Najeeb went missing.”

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor and former General Secretary of CPI(M) Prakash Karat had also called for immediate steps to trace the student.