Court ruling on reinvestigation today

For nearly nine years, Fatima Nafees has lived with one question: where is her son Najeeb Ahmed?

- Arnabjit Sur

NEW DELHI: On Thursday, the 56-year-old mother from Budaun, Uttar Pradesh, will find out whether the courts give her hope a chance or bring it to a halt.

A Delhi court will pronounce its order on whether to accept the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) closure report in Najeeb Ahmed's disappearance, or to direct a fresh investigation. Ahmed, a 27-year-old student of MSc Biotechnology at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), vanished in October 2016 after a scuffle with fellow students.

Since 2019, Fatima has contested CBI's decision to close the case, filing a detailed protest petition before the Rouse Avenue court and alleging "serious lapses in the investigation."

In its 2018 closure report, CBI claimed that Ahmed left campus voluntarily due to mental health issues and could not be traced. But Fatima never accepted that version. "As of today, Najeeb would be 35. I don't refer to him in the past tense. I believe he is still alive," she told HT ahead of the ruling. Her petition challenges the agency's conclusions on five grounds, urging the court to reject the closure and direct further inquiry.

At a hearing earlier this year, additional chief metropolitan magistrate Jyoti Maheshwari summoned CBI's investigating officer to clarify aspects of the probe.