A 20-year-old from Belghoria went traceless on Tuesday morning when he left home to visit a temple on the extreme northern fringes of Calcutta.
His two-wheeler and helmet were found on Wednesday morning nearly 172km away at Beldanga in Murshidabad district.
Rakshit Mittal was to appear for NEET on September 13 for admission to medical colleges. His family said the youth would visit the temple every day and return home between 10.30 and 11 in the morning before settling down for his final leg of preparations.
On Tuesday, Rakshit, who returned from Kota (in Rajasthan) six months ago after a preparatory course to crack NEET, was last seen at Sree Shyam Mandir in Ashokgarh, a few kilometres off his residence near Rathtala in Dunlop, around 10.18am.
“We have set up a team to probe into the disappearance of the youth based on a missing diary filed by his parents. The team left for Beldanga on Wednesday afternoon,” said an officer of Barrackpore police commissionerate.
The eldest of two brothers, Rakshit left home for the temple around 9.30am on Tuesday riding the scooter that his father had bought barely 20 days back. The vehicle didn’t have a registration number.
Police have collected CCTV footage that show Rakshit in a striped tee and trousers inside the temple around 10am on Tuesday. What happened thereafter is unknown.
Family members feared that Rakshit may have been abducted, but police sources said that the complaint lodged at Belghoria police station around 2pm on Tuesday did not mention it.
After the complaint was lodged, the police informed all police stations with details of Rakshit’s build, the clothes he had on, and his mobile number. The police also started tracking his phone location.
The police of Beldanga, where Rakshit’s scooter and helmet were found, said they found the buyer’s name, Belghoria address and a phone number from the documents in the vehicle.
Rakshit’s parents Ashok and Kabita have told police they had no relatives in Beldanga and it was nearly impossible for their son to drive down such a long distance alone. He had only recently got his driving licence, the parents said.
“Rakshit used to keep to himself and did not have too many friends with whom he would mingle. He was a very quiet boy,” Kavita told police.
His father Ashok Mittal said: “He was in a happy mood preparing for the upcoming medical entrance test. On Tuesday, he took one of his regular breaks, but did not return home.”