29-year-old Ajitabh Kumar, a software engineer working in the city, has been missing since Monday, December 18.
According to his friends, Ajitabh, who hails from Patna, was supposed to meet a prospective car buyer who he had got in touch on OLX. And while he left home around 6:30 pm, probably to meet the interested buyer, he never returned.
Reports state that Ajitabh's roomates told police that the former had listed his Maruti CIAZ car on OLX on Monday and had received a call from an unknown person who wanted to meet him to talk about the car. He never returned and has been untraceable since. His car too hasn't been found. His friends also said that his WhatsApp was active till 7:10 pm the same day.
A missing case was registered on Wednesday with the Whitefield police. However, the police are finding it difficult to track him since his phone is switched off.
Police sources told TNM that the investigation was currently based on the last call made from the phone. His phone was last traced to Gunjur near Whitefield.
Speaking to TNM, AK Sinha, Ajitabh's father said, "He went missing last Monday, and we are still not able to find him. We are gravely concerned and hope that he is alright."
"On the pretext of being an OLX buyer, some unidentified persons have lured him, and took him towards the outskirts of Bengaluru near Gunjur," he added.
According to the phone's location, his last communication was at 7:22 pm on December 18, and the road where it was traced, leads to the Tamil Nadu highway, according to the family.
"It was a costly car, and someone may have had plans to steal it. He was in need of the money. He was going to go to IIM Kolkata to study, and I told him that he would have to sell the car if he was planning to shift, following which he asked on OLX," Sinha said.
"The police is also trying to track the buyer who called Ajitabh, but the criminals are more clever than that, and may not give such easy clues," he added.
The family is also worried that Ajitabh may have been greviously injured, unconscious or admitted in a hospital somewhere, or else he would have returned home without the car.
"It should be a matter of concern for higher authorities, that criminals are so brazen. The police also, should put a lookout for unidentified persons admitted in any hospitals across Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and spread his photo. It is their responsibility," Sinha said.
"They can also look at car shops, which sell either parts of the car or entire vehicles, and cross check it with the details of the missing car. The crime should be solved as fast as possible," he added.
According to one report, Ajitabh moved to Bengaluru in 2010 and since then had been staying with a friend in Whitefield.