Over eight months ago, a 29-year-old techie from Bengaluru, Ajitabh Kumar went missing after her took his Maruti Ciaz car to a buyer he met on the online site OLX.
The CID, which is now probing the case, says it is looking into whether Ajitabh may have gone to an ashram in New Delhi.
“Ajitabh’s family members are ardent followers of the swamiji of an ashram in Raj Vidya Kendra located in New Delhi. We suspected that Ajitabh may have gone to take shelter there. A few investigators had visited the ashram but have not found anything yet as there were problems regarding access to its members,” a CID source said.
The family, however, says they do not buy into the suspicion and that Ajitabh could not have decided to run away from them.
“My family members and I have been followers of Sri Prem Rawat. He is an Indian who lives abroad. He does not call himself a swamiji. He only propagates peace and that people must look within themselves and embrace their inner god. The CID is wrong about Ajitabh staying at the ashram. Ajitabh and all our family members are followers of Prem Rawat. There is an office in New Delhi, but no one lives there,” says Pragya, Ajitabh’s sister.
She says that Ajitabh could not have gone to the ashram and questions whether his car was found in the vicinity of the ashram’s office in New Delhi.
“His phone went off in Varthur. So, did the phone of the man who had contacted him on OLX. Ajitabh loved his family. He was excited about going to IIM Kolkata. He would never put his family through so much misery and run away to some ashram. He was ambitious. The CID is only trying to pin this on the ashram because they have no leads. Where is his car? We know there was another person with him. What happened to that suspect?” Pragya asks.
The High Court, on Thursday, which heard the family’s petition to transfer the case to CBI, adjourned the proceedings after hearing from the Advocate General of Karnataka and Ajitabh’s lawyers. The HC is yet to pass an order in the case.
Representing the CID was Advocate General AS Ponnanna, who submitted to the court a sealed envelope containing the latest report on the investigation.
AS Ponnanna told the court that the CID had made considerable progress in the case.
The court also questioned CBI’s representative on how it would contribute to finding Ajitabh.
The CBI responded by saying that being a premier investigation agency in the country, it had solved many cases which other agencies were not able to.
Ajitabh disappeared on December 18, 2017.
Ajitabh's family has been running from pillar to post, seeking an explanation for the sequence of events that took place seven months ago, which led to the techie's disappearance
The police have since discovered the SIM that was used to call Ajitabh, but have made little progress in identifying suspects or figuring out what transpired on the day he went missing.