Police in Manchester were on Tuesday looking for an Indian student, missing since New Year's Eve after being separated from his friends at a local nightclub.
>Souvik Pal (19), a student of Manchester Metropolitan University, was last seen at the Warehouse Project nightclub on the night of December 31, police said as his father Santanu Pal, who flew in from India, made an emotional appeal for information that might help trace his son. He said he would stay in Britain until the boy was found.
“I am proud of my son and I will stay here until I get him back,” he said at a press conference expressing his gratitude to the police and the university authorities for their support.
“I would like to directly appeal to anyone who has any clues that can help the police search for Souvik, to call the police. This has been a very difficult time for our family back in India, including Souvik’s younger brother, who views him as a role model. If anyone can help, please call the police,” he said at a press conference.
Mr. Pal said Souvik did have plans to visit other parts of Britain but had not mentioned anything recently. The family last spoke to him at midnight — Indian time — on New Year’s Eve, when they told him to stick with his friends. The boy sounded in “good spirits” and was “joyous”.
Detective Chief Inspector Colin Larkin said the doormen at the club had asked Souvik to leave the club shortly before 11pm on December 31 after attending with six friends and flatmates. Souvik was “not described as drunk by anybody” and was ejected as the result of a misunderstanding about where the toilets were, he said.
The CCTV footage from the club had yielded no clues about his movements afterwards. Police divers combed the Bridgewater Canal near the club in the following days and would resume their search if new information emerged.
“We are looking to bring him safely to his family. I appeal to anybody who may have been in the club or in the areas at the time to contact the police,” he said.
Mr. Pal described Souvik as a “brilliant student” who had been offered a places by several other international universities.
“Everybody loved to have him as a friend and he was enjoying his life in Manchester. We have been told that by his friends. He had never been out of India before and his friends in Manchester accepted him. We are really depressed — this is a very difficult time,” Mr. Pal said.
