A DDA official went missing a month ago. His family alleges cops are involved
The Delhi high court will hear the family’s petition in January.
Police response
However, a senior police officer from the Model Town police station, who spoke to Newslaundry on the condition of anonymity, said, “An FIR is filed in cases related to a missing person only for those below the age of 18 or in cases where the family of an adult apprehends a motive behind alleged abduction, hence there was no delay.”
On being asked as to why the morning staff at the police station didn’t tell the family about Shiv being detained past midnight, he said, “He (Shiv) has been detained based on a complaint from a woman at night. While he was in our custody, he didn’t tell us his address. Staff on night duty was different from the ones who were deployed on duty the next morning.”
Police prepared a 52-page dossier based on CCTV footage of the locality.
About Shiv’s last traceable location, the officer said, “After he was detained and brought here, we have screenshots of footage between 2 am and about 4.19 am in which he can be seen going out of the police station and roaming around...we have left no stone unturned as part of the investigation. Our men have visited several trauma centres of government hospitals, guest houses, mortuaries, railway stations and bus stops but there was no clue about him.”
A status report dated December 2, submitted at the Delhi High Court by Model Town police SHO Lalit Kumar, states, “During further inquiry, CDR of the mobile numbers of Shiv Yadav have been obtained and analysed but nothing has been found suspicious to them. Bank account statements have been obtained and analysed in detail but no clue has been found yet.”
On any possible leads from Shiv’s social media accounts, the report states, “On November 19, mail was sent to Google, Instagram and Facebook regarding last login details of Shiv Yadav. Reply from Google and Instagram were received but no clue has been found and reply from Facebook is awaited.”
According to IO Arun Kumar, who had been handling this case, “We acted based on a complaint and then let him go. He was last seen crossing the road and going to the opposite side of the police station. After that, where did he go, we don’t know.”
North West DCP Usha Rangnani could not be reached for comment.
After so many letters and legal steps, the family, meanwhile, has been trying to raise the issue in the media too, but have failed to get any coverage so far. “We tried contacting some channels and local YouTubers as well but nobody showed any interest,” Pawan told Newslaundry.
On Wednesday, as Shiv’s father and brother sat on a protest outside Model Town police station, they were removed forcefully from the spot. “Please find my brother, how can he go missing from a police station,” Pawan said, bursting into tears with folded hands, as men in Khaki ushered him into a vehicle.