Rourkela, July 22: A Calcutta-based businessman was abducted this morning from near the Sundargarh-Jharsuguda border, about 130km from here, said police.

The businessman, Pratik Patodia, went missing when he was on the way to his textile factory at Kirei in Sundargarh district, about 24km from Jharsuguda railway station.

The police confirmed that it was a case of kidnapping and claimed they would crack the case shortly.

The police said Patodia, who is in his forties, reached Jharsuguda railway station this morning from Calcutta. From there, he left for his textile mill Ashok Multi Yarns Limited in his company car, a Tata Safari.

Since the maximum time to cover the distance is about one hour, Patodia, who left the railway station for the mill around 10am was expected to reach there by 11. When Patodia did not reach by that time, the mill company officials started to worry and made calls on his mobile phone. The calls went unanswered.

Sources said that around 1pm, a team of officials from the mill began searching for him and traced his vehicle near Beramahal, on the state highway No. 10, about 4km from the mill.

Sundargarh police superintendent Nikhil Kanodia rushed to the spot. The businessman's vehicle was abandoned on the road. The driver of the vehicle Rohit Tanty is also missing. The police found Patodia's sunglasses from the vehicle. Kanodia said: "We got to know about the incident around midday and began looking for him. We have sealed the borders."

The police have formed two teams to trace the businessman.