In what can be dubbed as the city's longest search operation that went in vain, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted a closure report in the CBI Special Court on Tuesday.

The court ordered the CBI to conduct further investigation through all the high-tech and advanced technologies of the present era by an officer of the rank of superintendent of police and submit a report within 60 days.

Jaladhi Trivedi, then a 16-year-old girl (28-year-old now) who went missing in 2014, has not not been traced even after over a decade of her disappearance.

The CBI court noted that, upon reviewing the documents of the CBI investigation, sufficient investigation has not been conducted based on the passport's fingerprints.  “Even in the current era of technology, by involving an FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) officer, an extensive investigation has not been carried out in this case.” 

The court also emphasised that a thorough investigation into the social media tracing of the missing girl keeping a cyber crime expert is yet to be done.

A passport fingerprint activity is also yet to be shared by the passport authorities and home department. 

Strong objection against closure report by Jaladhi's father 

Jaladhi's father strongly objected to the closure report submitted by the CBI, who have failed to find his minor daughter even after so many years and haven't been able to trace her. 

It was stated that the CBI's closure report doesn't mention anywhere whether Jaladhi has gone abroad or is deceased. In this modern and technology-driven era, documents like Aadhar Card and Passport are essential identity proofs for travelling, hospitalisation, and tracing any individual. However, the CBI has not conducted sufficient investigation regarding these, emphasised the father. 

He demanded rejection of CBI's closure report and asked the court to order further investigation.

Who is Jaladhi Trivedi?

It was the fateful day of October 4, 2014 when Class 11 Commerce student Jaladhi was last seen. She went missing after her tuition class ended at 6 pm on October 4 in 2014.

According to reports, she was last seen near Gita Mandir and after that, no trace was to be found by Kagdapith Police, who registered the case, along with CID Crime and CBI. 

The Gujarat High Court had transferred entire case to CBI on February 7, 2018. The CBI then submitted a closure report including 56 statement and 442 document evidence.

Notably, according to Section 108 of the Indian Evidence Act, a person is presumed dead who has been missing and untraceable for seven years or more.