NEW DELHI: A city court on Monday permitted the CBI to formally close its probe into the disappearance of JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, nearly nine years after he went missing under mysterious circumstances.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Jyoti Maheshwari accepted the closure report filed by the CBI but granted liberty to reopen the investigation if any new evidence emerges in the future.
The court’s order marks a development in the long-running case that began with Ahmed’s disappearance from JNU on October 15, 2016.
Ahmed, a first-year Master’s student, was last seen at the Mahi-Mandvi hostel after an altercation with a group of students, the night before.
The case was initially investigated by Delhi Police, but was later handed over to CBI following public outcry and a legal battle led by Ahmed’s mother, Fatima Nafees, who has continued to press for answers.
Despite nationwide searches and forensic analysis, CBI failed to make any breakthrough in locating Ahmed.
In October 2018, the CBI concluded its probe and filed a closure report, stating that all possible leads had been exhausted with no result. Before doing so, it obtained the necessary permission from the Delhi High Court to discontinue the investigation.
The acceptance of the closure report by the magistrate does not bar future inquiry. The court observed that the case may be reopened should fresh evidence come to light.
Earlier in the proceedings, Nafees’ legal counsel had described the matter as a “political case”.