Cop goes missing, bike found abandoned near police post

Basti: A sub-inspector posted at the Parasrampur police station here has reportedly gone missing under suspicious circumstances, police sources said on Sunday.

The missing sub-inspector has been identified as Ajay Gaur (43), whose motorcycle was found near a police outpost on the Amhat river ghat on February 6.

Divers were deployed in the river to search for Gaur, but without yielding any positive results, the sources said.

Gaur, who was posted at the Parasrampur police station, last spoke to his wife Ranjita for just 2-3 seconds on the evening of February 5, after which the call was disconnected. When his wife called him back after dinner, as per their routine, his phone was switched off, the sources said.

Ranjita thought he might have switched off his phone due to work and went to sleep. When she called again in the morning, the phone was still switched off.

After trying several times without success, she called a constable working with him, who told her that Gaur had not been seen in his room since the previous night.

Police then launched a search after registering a missing person’s case based on Ranjita’s complaint on Saturday, pressing their surveillance teams and the Special Operations Group (SOG) into service. Despite contacting all his relatives and acquaintances, the sub-inspector could not be traced, the sources said.

During the search, Gaur’s motorcycle was found abandoned near the Amhat police outpost in the Kotwali area, they said. Ranjita claimed that when CCTV camera footage was scanned, a policeman in plain clothes was seen sitting on the motorcycle with Gaur, the last time he was seen.

She also said that during his posting at the Dubaulia police station in Basti district, a person named Upadhyay died after being released from police custody, with his uncle threatening Gaur with dire consequences for the death.