Bhubaneswar: The case of missing AIIMS MBBS student Suhail Aijaz Kataria took a fresh twist on Monday after two hand-written posters claiming that he had been abducted by Maoists surfaced at Baramunda here.
The posters that were written in Odia also threatened to kill the student if top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda, who is into the incident," Mili said.
The poster, which claimed to be on behalf of the Odisha state committee of the banned CPI (Maoist), also threatened that a bomb would go off at Bhubaneswar station on March 13, the day the alleged deadline ends.
"Usually, the Maoists use red ink in their posters and banners. In this case, however, it was written with black and red ink. Besides, the Maoists have a tendency of making any abduction public through media within a few days," said a police officer.
The cops had last traced the mobile phone of Suhail, who hails from Jammu & Kashmir's Kupwara district, in Howrah outside Calcutta on February 10. He had left his hostel the previous day after telling his friends that he was going attend a friend's wedding in Chandigarh.
The AIIMS authorities lodged a missing complaint with Khandagiri police on February 18 after his friends informed the authorities. The police searched his room and found a letter addressed to his parents and friend in which he had written "I Quit".
The cops suspect that he had written the letter after failing to handle the academic pressure. Suhail had called his brother on February 9 and asked him not to call him for three to four days as he would turn in his mobile for repair.
Bhubaneswar deputy commissioner of police said they were verifying the letter's authenticity. "We take the matter very seriously and we are trying to nab the person behind this. At the same time, we are also trying to trace the missing student," he said.
On Sunday, the police sought help from intelligence agencies, such as the National Investigation Age-ncy and the Intelligence Bureau, to trace Suhail after a police team that visited Calcutta on February 26 returned empty-handed.
"The team visited various stations and Calcutta airport for information, but they did not find any clue. So we have sought assistance from other agencies," said a police officer.
