New Delhi: The city’s Crime Branch on Thursday questioned a friend of missing JNU student Najeeb Ahmed.
The friend, who had studied with Najeeb at Aligarh Muslim University, 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,” PTI quoted a senior police officer as saying.
The JNU student has been missing for 100 days now.
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 on Thursday 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.
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.
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.
(With PTI inputs)