Family members of Anuj Kumar Verma. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Aug. 2: Police today issued a statement that the businessman, Anuj Kumar Verma, who has been missing for the past 13 days, is presently lodged in a prison in Chhattisgarh.

It also transpired that the men who took away Verma from his office on Frazer Road on July 21 were policemen and not criminals.

For 13 days, Anuj’s family members had been running from pillar to post in the fear that he had been abducted. “We have received information about the man being in prison at this moment. Though we do not have details of the case at present, an FIR was lodged against Verma at Kotwali police station in Ramgarh area of Chhattisgarh. Acting on the FIR, a police team came to his office in Patna and took him into custody. Now, a Patna police team has been sent to Chhattisgarh to confirm the same. More details on this are awaited,” the Patna city superintendent of police, Shivdeep Lande, said.

The officer said the police team from Chhattisgarh did not abide by the procedures.

“The team should have apprised the police here about the arrest and the entire operation. This is the standard procedure followed in the country. But they did violated the practice. The police are trying to acquire more details as to why he was arrested and on what charges,” the city superintendent of police said.

Verma, who was into the insurance business, has his office on Frazer Road under Gandhi Maidan police station.

Around 3 pm on July 21, a group of 10 men rushed into the office of Verma and asked him to accompany them.

Around 9.30pm the next day, the trader’s family got a call from Anuj in which he said he was in Chhattisgarh and would be back soon. The family claimed receiving no other phone call from Anuj thereafter.

Today, none of the family members could be contacted despite several attempts.