Samannaya Chowdhuri

A Bangalore-based techie and his daughter have been missing from near the Tata Centre since Wednesday.

Engineer and MBA Samannaya Chowdhuri, who had been visiting his in-laws in Bhowanipore with his family, had told his wife that he was taking his 12-year-old daughter Sarbari out to a science exhibition. They were set to fly back to Bangalore later on Wednesday.

The police believe Samannaya lied to Mousumi, his wife, as there was no science exhibition in the vicinity on Wednesday.

Mousumi said her husband had gone to a bank on Park Street and returned to Bhowanipore at noon to take their daughter out. “We would have flown back to Bangalore in the evening. He had said we would set off for the airport the moment they came back,” she said.

Mousumi said Samannaya and Sarbari had got off a hired Ambassador in front of Tata Centre and asked the driver to park the car.

“He had called up the driver at 1.39pm asking him to come near Tata Centre. But the driver could not find them and his cellphone has been switched off since,” Mousumi said.

The driver called up Mousumi and went back to Bhowanipore. Later, Mousumi and her brother-in-law, Swagata, lodged a compliant at Shakespeare Sarani police station.

Mousumi also visited Lalbazar and the CID headquarters on Thursday.

The police have found that there was no science exhibition in and around Tata Centre on Wednesday.

“This is crucial. It is clear that Samannaya had lied to his wife,” said a detective department officer.

Joint commissioner of police Damayanti Sen said it was unlikely that they were abducted. “We have no leads to believe that Samannaya and Sarbari were abducted,” she said.

Samannaya runs an IT startup, STOF Electronics, with his friends.