Bhubaneswar: The second-year AIIMS Bhubaneswar student, Suhail Aijaz Kataria, who has been missing from the city since February 9, is yet to be traced though a police team continued its search in Delhi and Gurgaon.
The cell phone of the student hailing from Kashmir's Kupwara district was last traced to Howrah near Calcutta on February 10.
The police said the three-member team had gone through CCTV footage of various business establishments in Gurgaon in the hope of tracing him. "The team has also visited several police stations seeking their assistance in searching the student. So far, we have not been able to trace him," said a police official.
Suhail's father Aijaz Ahmed Kataria, however, told the police that a security guard posted at the Jammu and Kashmir Bank's ATM in Gurgaon had spotted Suhail outside the kiosk and had also alerted bank officials. Aijaz is also in Gurgaon to trace his son.
While Suhail left the institute telling his friends that he was going to attend a friend's wedding in Chandigarh, the institute authorities lodged a missing complaint at Khandagiri police station on February 18. The police later searched his room and found a letter addressed to his parent and friend in which he has written "I Quit". The police suspected the youth of writing the letter because of academic pressure.
Earlier, a police team had also visited Bengal to trace Suhail, but in vain. "The police team would stay in Gurgaon and Delhi for another four to five days. The team will also go through CCTV footage of other ATMs there," said deputy commissioner of police Satyabrata Bhoi.
The police said Suhail last withdrew Rs 400 from an ATM counter on the AIIMS campus on February 9, the day when he left the city.
"We are expecting him to turn up at ATM for money as it has been more than one month since he has disappeared," said a police officer.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik last week assured Mehbooba Mufti, his Jammu and Kashmir counterpart, that his government was making all efforts to find the missing student.
