The family of missing Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmed has accused Delhi Police of harassing them during a pre-dawn search in their house in Badaun, a charge refuted by the law enforcement agency saying it was working on a clue to trace him.
"This morning, around 4 AM, four jeeps of Delhi Police accompanied by local police (Baduan in Uttar Pradesh) stormed into the house of Ashraf Qadri, Najeeb's maternal uncle. Around 50 police personnel forcefully barged into the house," a family member claimed, adding that on entering the house, the police started clicking photographs and shot videos.
"They searched every nook and cranny of the house to find Najeeb, and threatened the family members to produce Najeeb if they had hidden him somewhere. They even harassed his grandfather, who is 90 years old," said the family member.
However, Delhi Police strongly refuted the reports of high-handedness.
"Search operations are continuing in all possible places including friends and relatives and notices are being issued in suitable cases. This morning, our team with local (Badaun) police made a proper search. The DCP himself led the team," said Ravindra Yadav, joint commissioner of police (Crime).
Videography was done of the proceedings which will make it clear that the allegations are baseless, he said.
"Najeeb's email was accessed by some unknown individuals as per our technical analysis and we swiftly reacted and teams reached Badaun within no time and could traceout the email accessor who turned out to be his own maternal uncle Ashraf Qadri. The teams were sent under the close supervision of DCP and required legal procedures have been followed and necessary legal steps are being taken," he added.
Police said they are following every possible lead and Badaun police was taken along to assure people of the right intentions.
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.
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.
