Missing JNU Student Najeeb Ahmed Case: Delhi Court Accepts Closure Report, Says CBI Cannot Be Faulted
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday (June 30) accepted a closure report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case pertaining to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmed, who went missing eight years back in October 15, 2016.
Ahmed was 27-year-old at the time he went missing from his hostel following an alleged scuffle with some members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
“In a volatile atmosphere like the hostel elections and more so in a campus like JNU, such scuffles and exchanges are not unheard of, but the same is not a sufficient basis to conclude that these young students would go to an extent to cause disappearance of another student, especially when there is no evidence on record to suggest the same,” said Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Jyoti Maheshwari of the Rouse Avenue Court on Monday, reported Indian Express.
The court accepted the CBI’s closure report and granted liberty to reopen the case if any evidence in the matter came up.
“This Court is cognizant of the plight of an anxious mother who has been on a quest to find out about her missing son since 2016, but the investigating agency in the present case, i.e. CBI, cannot be faulted for the investigation carried out. The quest for truth is the foundation of every criminal investigation, yet there are cases where the investigation conducted cannot achieve its logical conclusion, despite the best efforts…,” said the court.
The CBI had filed a closure report in the case in 2018, following which Ahmed’s mother Fatima Nafees had move a protest petition against the report in the court, alleging that the CBI had not conducted a proper investigation into the possible role of the nine suspects.
The CBI told the court that call details records of the suspects were scrutinised, but no link to Najeeb’s disappearance was found.
“…while the allegations regarding physical assault and verbal threats against Najeeb Ahmed on the night of 14.10.2016 are supported by witness testimonies, the link between those events and his subsequent disappearance on 15.10.2016 is not borne out by any direct or circumstantial evidence on record,” said the court in its order.
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