New Delhi: A court on Monday allowed CBI to close the case of former JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, who went missing on Oct 15, 2016. Central Bureau of Investigation probed all plausible aspects and exhausted all options, it observed. “The truth may elude us, but the quest for truth must go on—unwavering and undeterred,” observed the court of additional chief judicial magistrate Jyoti Maheshwari, granting CBI the liberty to reopen the investigation upon the receipt of any credible information regarding Ahmed’s whereabouts. The court should be intimated in such a case, the judge added.Recognising the plight of an anxious mother, the protest petitioner who has been on a quest to find out about her missing son, the court said CBI couldn’t 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 of the investigating machinery,” the court said.Expressing earnest hope that Ahmed, a first-year master’s student in 2016, shall be traced soon, the judge regretted that there was still no closure for his mother and other loved ones. After Ahmed went missing, his mother, Fatima Nafees, moved court, which handed over the case to CBI. The central agency, which took over the probe from Delhi Police on May 16, 2017, examined 560 witnesses and collected more than 200 documents. In Oct 2018, CBI closed its investigation, claiming that the efforts to trace Ahmed yielded no results. Its investigation also did not reveal any offence having been committed against Ahmed, it submitted.The judge said there was no evidence of any scuffle or exchange involving Ahmed with any person on the day of his disappearance, after he returned to the hostel, to link his disappearance to any suspect or any other person at JNU. The court also noted that when Ahmed left his hostel room, his cellphone and laptop were lying there.Taking note that all conceivable aspects that could have been investigated have been thoroughly covered by CBI, the judge said no credible information could be received regarding his whereabouts. She dismissed the grounds raised by Ahmed’s mother, who had alleged lapses in the CBI investigation, saying those were examined at length and stand rejected.In Oct 2018, CBI filed its closure report before the court after getting permission from Delhi High Court. Ahmed went missing from JNU’s Mahi-Mandvi hostel, allegedly following a scuffle with some other students the previous night.
