The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday told the Delhi High Court that it has completed its investigation into the disappearance of Jawaharlal Nehru University student Najeeb Ahmed from “every aspect” but has failed to make any progress. It sought permission to file a closure report in the matter, ANI reported.
Ahmed’s mother Fatima Nafees, however, demanded a status report from the CBI and a reinvestigation. The court said it cannot direct the CBI to give her a status report but she can seek a detailed report about the investigation after the agency submits its final documents on the matter, according to IANS. The bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Vinod Goel also told the petitioner that she can contest the matter once the closure report is filed.
Advocate Colin Gonsalves, who is representing Fatima Nafees, accused the CBI of not conducting a fair investigation and protecting members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad by deciding against their custodial interrogation. This, he alleged, was done at the behest of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The CBI rejected these as merely presumptions.
The case
Ahmed, a Master’s student, went missing on October 15, 2016. He was spotted getting into an autorickshaw on the campus the morning after he was allegedly beaten up by a group of students belonging to the ABVP. About a month later, the police claimed Ahmed had been seen getting out of an autorickshaw near the Jamia Milia University in Delhi. Then, the trail went cold. No headway has since been made even though the case has gone from the local police to the Delhi police’s Crime Branch and, eventually, the CBI.
In March, Ahmed’s mother had filed a defamation suit against two media houses and their reporters for claiming her son had links with the Islamic State group.
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