Chief minister Mamata Banerjee ordered a fresh probe into the disappearance of a student of RG Kar Medical College and Hospital after his family members met her at Nabanna on Wednesday.
Mamata asked police commissioner Surajit Kar Purkayastha, who was present at the meeting, to form a special investigation team to trace Avijit Singh, a second-year MBBS student.
Avijit's family members expressed displeasure in front of Mamata over Calcutta police's investigation into his disappearance.
In the evening, the authorities formed an 11-member investigation team headed by Sujit Mitra, the deputy commissioner in charge of special branch-II. Among the other members are the assistant commissioner of the anti-rowdy squad and the officer-in-charge of the cyber police station.
The cops also circulated a latest photograph of the youth.
"We are grateful to the chief minister that she spared time for us. She gave us a patient hearing and immediately asked the police commissioner to form a new investigation team to track down Avijit," said the student's father, Umeshwar Singh, a schoolteacher in Bihar's Muzaffarpur. Singh has been camping in Calcutta since Sunday.
Singh and his relatives met Mamata around 3.30pm. This was their second visit to Nabanna since Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the group could not meet the chief minister and was directed to Lalbazar, where they met the police commissioner and joint commissioner (crime) Pallab Kanti Ghosh.
The family members later lodged a kidnapping complaint with Tallah police station. Till Tuesday, the police probe was based on a missing complaint filed at the police station.
Avijit has been missing since he left the college hostel in Belgachhia, close to the campus, on Saturday. He had left behind his belongings, including his wallet and two cell phones.
Fires
A fire broke out at Bisva Bangla Technician Studio in the Regent Park police station area on Wednesday morning. Two fire tenders doused the flames. An edible oil godown in Maniktala was destroyed by a blaze around the same time.
