The granddaughter of a retired IAS officer went missing on Tuesday morning after the family driver took her out on a regular stroll.

After one-and-a-half-year old Tahira went missing, the family members lodged a kidnapping FIR naming the driver as the prime accused. The driver had been recruited two years ago. Tahira lived at house number 180A in the Patliputra Colony

Tahira is the granddaughter of Waseemuddin Anjum (70), a retired IAS officer, who at present, is working as an additional director of Mahavir Vatsalya Hospital. Anjum told The Telegraph that Tahira had developed a liking for a pet monkey kept in the neighbourhood and that she used to go everyday in the morning with the driver to feed it.

“The driver, Rajkumar, has been working with us since September 2012. Tahira’s father, Faiz Ahmed, stays in Jeddah and works for a software company. I retired as an IAS officer in 2006 and I have served as Nawada district magistrate. My granddaughter likes to go everyday to a nearby house, which has got a pet monkey. The house is located 20m away from our house. Rajkumar comes early for work. Today (on Tuesday), around 8am, he, like everyday, took Tahira out to the neighbourhood. She goes there everyday to feed the monkey with chapatis and biscuits. They go there each day around 8am and return by 8.30am. Today, however, both of them didn’t return for long. This got us worried and my wife asked me to go and check,” Anjum said.

“I know my neighbour. He is a good man and has got nothing to do with this incident. I asked a few people who are regular morning walkers as well as a few children who were hanging around in the same place. They said they had not seen Rajkumar or my granddaughter today. We waited until 10.30am and then called the police. Before that, I called up Rajkumar. The phone rang once but was disconnected. After that, whenever I try to call, it says the cellphone is switched off,” Anjum said.

All police stations in the city have been alerted and the girl’s picture is being circulated. “We are tracing his cellphone tower location. The last time his location was traced, it was from the Pahadi area near Zero Mile. We are sure the driver has taken the girl away. But there can be more angles to it,” said a police officer.

He added: “Rajkumar is a resident of Nasriganj in Danapur. No information cannot be divulged at present but the police have picked up Chandan, Rajkumar’s son, for questioning. We are taking all steps to bring back the girl and the family members too are being questioned for leads.”