Satyam

Patna, Dec. 9: Sitamarhi-based schoolteacher Dinkar Kumar suffered a rude shock on Thursday when he was informed over the phone that his son’s body had been recovered under mysterious circumstances from a lake in Paris on Wednesday.

To pursue higher studies, Satyam, 28, had enrolled in Ecole Polytechnique University in the French capital after doing BTech and MTech from IIT, Mumbai, this year.

Dinkar said he suspected foul play as his family did not receive any call from Satyam since the past four days.

“He used to call almost everyday. But, there was no call from Satyam since Friday,” he said.

Dinkar said he had contacted his son’s friend Nitish, who also confirmed the family that Satyam was missing from the institute. Nitish, a resident of Patna, is also studying at Ecole Polytechnique University.

Finding no way out, Dinkar, a resident of Balha village in Sitamarhi district, reported the matter to the district police chief, Rakesh Kumar Rathi, and sought his intervention.

Rathi expressed helplessness as the incident took place outside the country but assured the family that he would apprise senior officers of the state of the matter.

When contacted, Rathi said Satyam’s father had met him on Tuesday and submitted a petition about his missing son, who was studying in Paris.

“I immediately forwarded the petition to the police headquarters for necessary action,” Rathi told The Telegraph on the phone.

Sources close to the family said that Satyam had gone to France on August 31 this year with his friend Nitish.

Satyam was doing Master of Mechanics in Computational Fluid Dynamics. He had joined IIT, Mumbai, in 2005 and completed his M. Tech in 2010.

Speaking to The Telegraph on phone from Paris, Gaitri I. Kumar, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Indian Embassy in France, said everything needed was being done by the mission and the authorities were in touch with those in India and also Satyam’s parents and friends, besides the Ecole Polytechnique University, of which he was a student.

“The mission is doing everything with regard to this. He was an outstanding student of the University and it is an unfortunate incident. We are in constant touch with his family, his friends, the local authorities here, the authorities in India as well the university. The body has still not been sent back home. We have been following up this case since last Friday,” the official said.

Another official at the Embassy in France told The Telegraph that the body of Satyam Kumar was recovered on Thursday.

“The body is still to be sent back to India as the local formalities are being completed. The mission is in touch with the French authorities as well the family of Satyam. Once the formalities are done, the body will be immediately sent back home at the earliest,” the official said.

The Sitamarhi SP, however, said that he had not received any information about Satyam either from the state police headquarters or the Ministry of Home Affairs.