Rahul Roy, the 18-year-old youth who used to stay in the residence of tourism minister Sunil Kumar ‘Pintu’ in Patna. He is missing since Tuesday. Telegraph picture

Patna, Feb. 29: An 18-year-old youth has gone missing from the official residence of state tourism minister Sunil Kumar “Pintu” at 3 Bandar Bagicha, Dakbungalow Road in the state capital.

The youth, Rahul Roy, is missing since yesterday. He was a student of BD Public School at Buddha Colony. A missing case was lodged at Kotwali police station today.

Rahul’s father, Bishwajeet, is a friend of the minister and lives in Sitamarhi. The youth had been living in Sunil Kumar’s house for the past few years.

The minister told The Telegraph: “Bishwajeet, a retired SBI (State Bank of India) employee, is a very close friend. Rahul is like our son. After he went missing, we inquired at his school and found that Rahul had not attended a single class since March last year. We also learnt that he had failed in his Class XI examination. However, he used to leave the house for school each morning. He also used to go for tuitions. His parents were regular in paying the school and tuition fees.”

S.B. Rai, the director of the BD Public School, said: “The boy has not been coming to school. He took admission in Class XI in June 2010, but stopped coming from March 2011. His parents came to the school today. We found that he had misguided them as well. They were not aware that he was not coming to school.”

Pintu said: “Bishwajeet and his wife Shraboni Roy were supposed to come to Patna and stay with Rahul till Holi. With the examinations round the corner, they wanted to be with Rahul for some time. His parents would have wanted to see the admit card, which he did not have. Rahul got out of our home around 10am yesterday. He said he was going to school to collect his admit card but he never returned.”

Rahul’s elder sister, Shilpy, a senior executive with a private firm in New Delhi, told The Telegraph over telephone: “We are unable to trace him. An FIR has been lodged. Sunil uncle (Pintu) is also helping us a lot to trace Rahul. At present, we don’t have any information about him.”

An officer at Kotwali police station said: “We are investigating the case from all angles. Prima facie, it seems that the boy ran away. He had two cellphones, both of which are switched off now. He called his friends in Jaipur yesterday. We are trying to trace the missing boy.”

Another 16-year-old student, who was taking the Bihar board examinations, allegedly shot himself on Monday night. The student was the son of a tea stall owner and lived in the Hajiganj area under Chowk police station in Patna City.

“The boy and his mother were the only people at home at the time of the incident. She was in the kitchen and the boy was in his room. The boy used a country-made gun to kill himself. We are trying to find out how he got the gun,” said a police officer at Chowk police station.

He added: “The firearm has not been recovered. We think the family disposed off it. We are investigating the case.” No suicide letter was found.