CBI files closure report in Najeeb Ahmad case
NEW DELHI: Exactly two years after Jawaharlal Nehru University student Najeeb Ahmad went missing in mysterious circumstances, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Monday said they had filed a “closure report” in the case at a Delhi court.
The CBI filed the closure report at the Patiala House Courts last week and conveyed that its efforts to trace Ahmad had failed.
The court is likely to examine the report on November 29. The magistrate has the powers to order a fresh probe.
Reacting to the development, Ahmad’s mother, Fatima Nafees, said she continued to hope for her son’s return and would request the court to order a re-investigation.
“The closure report means nothing because the Central Bureau of Investigation never really made genuine efforts to bring back my son,” said Nafees.
She urged her son’s “kidnappers” to leave him at any place of their convenience. “Leave him in Bareilly or at a dargah or any other place. I won’t pursue the case after that. But until I have my son back, I won’t stop my fight,” Nafees said.
Ahmad, then 27, had gone missing from JNU’S Mahi-mandavi Hostel on October 15 two years ago, allegedly after a scuffle with members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
The Delhi Police had registered a case of kidnapping and illegal confinement at the Vasant Kunj (North) police station. The police’s efforts included a search operation in the university campus. The police said Ahmad was last seen near Jamia Millia Islamia University, a claim Central Bureau of Investigation contested in court.
With Ahmad’s mother fighting to bring back her son, the Delhi High Court on May 16 last year had ordered the CBI to take over investigation.
The CBI had questioned nine suspects, all JNU students, in Ahmad’s disappearance. The closure report has been filed under the Code of Criminal Procedure Section 169.
A closure report is filed when
a probe agency has completed a investigation or has no hope of solving the case.
The Central Bureau of Investigation had first told the court about its intention to file a closure report on July 12. They had told the court that they had been doing “everything” at “the ground level” to trace Ahmad but was contemplating filing the closure report.
“But then there are some more aspects which might be analysed and we would examine those,” the CBI had said.
CBI counsel Nikhil Goel had said the efforts had included issuing an Interpol notice and announcing a reward of Rs 10 lakh for any information about Ahmad.
Goel had said all the feedback had been negative. The digital
footprints — tracking the movements through online activity — of the nine suspects had also been pursued, but to no avail.
Nafees, however, alleged neither CBI nor Delhi Police made genuine efforts to track her son.
“The court always took the investigating agencies to task for their lack of efforts,” she said. “They made all efforts to malign my son’s reputation, but did not care about a mother whose health has been failing her,” Nafees said.
A Central Bureau of Investigation spokesperson said, “We have done our best to search for Ahmad. Now we are waiting to see if the court finds our efforts sufficient. If we find any evidence, we will pursue the case.”