A student from Hyderabad has been reported missing under mysterious circumstances in New Jersey in the United States, since Saturday. His family members have appealed to the Ministry of External Affairs to investigate the case.
The youngster, identified as Mirza Ali Ahmed Baig, whose family lives in Hyderabad’s Santoshnagar area, had gone to the US in 2015 to pursue an engineering course from the University of Gannon in Pennsylvania. He later moved to New Jersey to opt for another course from the American Institute of Commerce and Technology in 2017.
According to media reports, Baig’s flatmate – who is from Bengaluru – approached the local police station and filed a complaint.
“My brother used to work with a local mobile accessories shop in New York as a part-timer and he went missing from there. The CCTV footage of the shop which was given to us by locals there showed he was last seen in the shop at about 2:40 pm on Friday. He spoke to our mother around 1 am on Saturday,” Ahmed's younger brother, Mirza Shujat Baig, told reporters in Hyderabad.
Ahmed reportedly told his family that he was under great stress and had allegedly been receiving threatening calls.
During the last call that he made home, Ahmed expressed his wish to speak to his brother and said that he would 'reveal' everything to his family soon.
He also said that he was being extorted by some local Indians who had settled there, his family told the media, suspecting that this was why he had shifted cities in the US.
“I was not at home when he called. When I returned home and called him, his phone rang a couple of times but it went unanswered. I tried reaching him again but this time it was switched off. We do not know what has happened to him,” Shujat told the Times of India.
Ahmed has not visited home since he left for the US in 2015.
Media reports state that when the local police conducted a check of his house, they could not find any of his documents.
The family has now appealed to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for help.