An Indian Air Force officer admitted to the Army Command Hospital in South Kolkata has been missing for nine days after he was seen “walking out of the hospital in CCTV footage” last Thursday.
Brajesh Kumar Shukla (52), a junior warrant officer of the IAF, currently posted in Jorhat district of Assam, was admitted to the hospital on April 26 for a cataract surgery and was scheduled to be discharged last Friday.
“We [IAF] are not looking at the incident as a missing case. Unlike missing cases, which have connotations of foul play, there is no evidence of any such occurrence in the current incident. We are treating this as absence without leave,” Ministry of Defence spokesperson Wing Commander S. S. Birdi told The Hindu . He also said that the Air Force Police along with the Missing Persons Squad of the Kolkata Police was jointly probing the case. “So far there is no trace of Mr. Shukla,” he added.
No breakthrough
Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police (Crime) Vishal Garg said: “Investigation is going on, but I am not aware of any breakthrough in the case so far.”
However, the family members of Mr. Shukla said they feared for his safety. “What I are concerned about is what happened to my father after he left the Command Hospital, which is a highly secured area,” Mr. Shukla’s son Tarun Shukla said.
