The Karnataka High Court on Monday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to begin investigations in the Ajitabh Kumar missing case, 10 months after the 29-year-old software engineer working in Bengaluru went missing. Unhappy with the police, Ajitabh’s father Ashok Kumar Sinha had approached the Karnataka High Court seeking a CBI probe in January.
The Times of India reported that Justice Aravind Kumar noted that CBI being a central agency was in a better position to get information from different countries.
“Our lawyer has informed us that the High Court has allowed the CBI to investigate the matter but the written order is yet to be issued. We are waiting for that. This was our demand. There was a two and a half month lapse since the judgement was reserved and CID has not given us a single update for two and a half months, so we are very disappointed,” Pragya, Ajitabh’s sister told TNM.
“We hope the CBI will have something positive to tell us,” she added.
Ajitabh was reported missing since December 18, 2017 after he had gone out to show his car to a prospective buyer who he connected with through the online marketplace OLX. Hearing the case, the Karnataka High Court had first asked Bengaluru’s Commissioner of Police T Suneel Kumar to form a Special Investigation Team comprising senior police officers to probe the matter.
Over the course of hearing, the HC had also expressed dissatisfaction over the progress made by the sleuths. Till date neither his car nor his phone have been found. Later, the case was given to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), but in vain. Other than approaching the judiciary, his family gave several representations to the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister’s office to ensure the case is investigated with priority.
Even the PMO had shot a letter to the state police to expedite the investigation.
Sources within the team investigating the case had told TNM that no headway has been made even after drones were deployed to look for Ajitabh. In September, The investigations had been stonewalled after CID had drafted a document for a formal request to Google seeking the details of a user with the email id Soulful Ramesh through the CBI as part of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between India and the United States of America. However, the federal court in California did not reply to the demand yet.
Earlier in July, frustrated with the no show, Ajitabh’s family and friends had organised a protest in Town Hall to urge for a CBI investigation.