Ibrahim Sharief (below) and wife (right) with another family member. Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 29: Police, who are yet to trace the missing 34-year-old assistant controller at the office of the Indian Bureau of Mines, today began probing the possibility of the involvement of mine owners in the incident.

The police today seized some documents from the Chandrasekharpur office of Ibrahim Sharief, who has been missing since Monday.

A source in the mining bureau said that Ibrahim had inspected as many as 25 mines between March and November. Of the 25 mines, seven were found to be violating the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 1988.

These 25 iron, manganese and pyrophyllite mines were located in Keonjhar, Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj.

A source said that one of the 25 mines was also served a showcause notice.

“Most of the violations reported by Ibrahim during his inspection included violation in plan approval. There were also cases of excessive mining,” said an official of the Indian Bureau of Mines, Bhubaneswar, on condition of anonymity.

On the other hand, senior officials from the headquarters of the mining bureau in Nagpur today sent a letter to the Union mining ministry in this connection.

“We have been regularly communicating with the Nagpur head office. Today, we came to know that they have taken up the matter with the Union ministry,” said deputy controller of mines L.H. Chhangte.

The police are still clueless about the mysterious circumstances that led to disappearance of the mining engineer. After tracing his mobile in two places of Uttar Pradesh, the police sent a police team there to trace Ibrahim.

The police have also verified the reservation lists of trains. However, it is yet to find a lead in this case.

In another development, Ibrahim’s family members today met senior officials at the mining bureau in Bhubaneswar.

“I last spoke to Ibrahim over telephone about 15 days ago. He was quite normal and we did not find him to be under any kind of stress during the conversation,” said Ibrahim’s elder brother Subhan Kamati.