Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Najeeb Ahmed has been missing for 100 days now after an altercation with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists and sleuths are still groping in the dark.

JNU, the institution known for its robust culture of politics pursued by students, was hit by a double whammy last year – first five of its students were charged with sedition and then Najeeb went missing.

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Najeeb’s sudden disappearance on October 15, 2016 had caused considerable tension and was seen as a sign of what ails India’s leading university.

The police registered an FIR on October 16 at police station Vasant Kunj.

In November, the police traced an auto driver who said that he had dropped Najeeb at Jamia Millia Islamia.

An SIT was then formed to trace Najeeb on the direction of home minister Rajnath Singh. However, the SIT failed to make much headway.
The SIT did focus on the psychiatric angle after it came to light that Ahmed was suffering from OCD with depression.

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Even as police intensified its search, there was a hypothesis that Najeeb might have moved to a small town to live in anonymity.
On November 26, Najeeb’s mother Fatima Nafees moved the Delhi high court over her son’s disappearance. Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, who appeared for the mother, said that there was a “political connection in the case” because of the involvement of student group which is close to the ruling government.

Najeeb’s mother alleged that her son was beaten up by members of ABVP “which is affiliated to the RSS and therefore, closely connected with the BJP which is the party in power at the Centre”.

Since the Delhi Police comes under the control of the Central government, it is not likely that any progress will be made in the investigation, she claimed.

In December, the police carried out a thorough search of the JNU campus. As many as 600 police personnel were involved in the search for Najeeb. But, he could not be found.

The massive search was mounted following a Delhi high court order. The court told the police to minutely go through the entire JNU campus including hostels, classrooms as well as rooftops of the buildings with help of sniffer dogs.

The police announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh, a sizeable sum of money which lies unclaimed even 100 days after his disappearance.