Seventeen days after Bengaluru techie Ajitabh Kumar went missing, the police finally said that they have some strong leads to follow.
On Thursday, an officer with knowledge of the investigation told TNM that they suspect that Ajitabh had chatted with the buyer on WhatsApp.
“We have reason to believe Ajitabh had messaged the buyer on WhatsApp. We have asked WhatsApp to furnish certain information which would help the investigation. But WhatsApp has not provided the information,” the officer said.
Investigating officers suspect that a person, or several persons, posing as a buyer on the online marketplace OLX, abducted Ajitabh when he went to meet them to sell his car. After a preliminary probe, the investigators had narrowed it down to three buyers. “We questioned two of them and we are keeping tabs on them, but the third user is a fake profile. The person registered using a fake address, and even the mobile number may have been taken using fake documents,” the officer added.
Speaking to TNM, DCP (Whitefield) Abdul Ahad said that they have strong leads, and that they will have more information in three to four days.
“We have leads. We may need another 3 to 4 days. Ajitabh’s father had requested in HC (Karnataka High Court) to transfer the case to CBI. We have been asked to submit a status report in HC on Monday,” he said.
The DCP said that the investigators had requested information for the second time from OLX India.
“Initially, OLX gave us some information on December 22. We sought more information on December 26, but they didn’t give it to us and stopped responding to our calls. When we warned them of legal action on Tuesday, they cooperated,” the DCP added.
Meanwhile, investigators have written up a report, which will be submitted to the Karnataka High Court on December 8.
Ashok Kumar Sinha, Ajitabh’s father, a resident of Navi Mumbai, arrived in the city as soon as he heard that his son was missing.
On Wednesday, he filed a writ petition to the Karnataka High Court demanding a CBI probe.
Ashok has also started campaigns on social media to locate Ajitabh, and is also looking for his son in hospitals in rural Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. “What if he is undergoing treatment in any hospital that we don’t know about? What if he is hurt?” he told TNM.
Ajitabh was last seen driving out of his residence in Whitefield on December 18 at around 6:30 pm. The techie, who worked for British Telecom, had posted an online advertisement on OLX.in, seeking buyers for his Maruti car, which he was selling for Rs 13.6 lakh. According to this father, Ajitabh wanted the money to fund his MBA at IIM Calcutta.