The Delhi High Court on Monday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation to file a closure report in the case relating to missing Jawaharlal Nehru University student Najeeb Ahmed, reported PTI. The agency told the court in September that it had completed the inquiry into Ahmed’s disappearance “from every aspect”, but made no progress.

The judges said that Ahmed’s mother, who had moved the court for an order to the police to find her son, could raise her grievances before the trial court where the report is filed. The court said that if Fatima Nafees wanted the status report of the investigation, she would have to approach the trial court.

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Advocate Colin Gonsalves, who is representing 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 has dismissed these allegations.

Fatima Nafees said she would approach the Supreme Court. “It’s been two years,” she told ANI. “We had high hopes from the court but we didn’t even move an inch. Security agencies have misguided the court. We will go to the Supreme Court. All that is happening since last two years is being done under the pressure by those sitting in power.”

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. The case made no headway even though it was passed on from the local police to the Delhi police’s Crime Branch and, eventually, to 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.