Karnataka High Court transfers missing techie case to CBI

Noting a lack of coordination among the investigating agencies of different States in pursuing leads to trace missing software engineer Kumar Ajitabh, the High Court of Karnataka on Monday transferred the 10-month-old case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The court made it clear that it was not transferring the case for laxity or inaction on the part of the State police, but to ensure that the matter could be taken to its logical end by the CBI through better coordination with various investigating agencies.

Justice Aravind Kumar passed the order while allowing a petition filed by Ashok Kumar Sinha, father of Mr. Ajitabh, seeking a probe by the CBI into the complaint of his son’s disappearance from Bengaluru on December 18, 2017.

The court also explained two other reasons for transferring the case to the CBI — to instil confidence in the petitioner and his family members, and to ensure Article 21 of the Constitution, which deals with the Right to Life, of the missing person.

The court observed that the apprehension of the petitioner that his son, who has technical skills, might have been abducted for being forcibly used for anti-national activities could not be completely ignored. “The eternal wait of the family members expecting their son to return will always be there. The agony and trauma of ‘wait and watch’ can be known only by the person in such situation,” the court observed.

Noting that the technical wing of the State police was analysing call detail records and Internet use of the suspects, the court observed that the probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the State could not proceed at the required pace for want of leads from other States.

Mr. Ajitabh has been missing since December 18, after he went out of his residence in Whitefield to meet an unknown prospective buyer, who is said to have called him regarding an advertisement he had put out for selling his car on the online portal OLX.com. He wanted to sell his car to pay tuition fee as he had secured an MBA seat in the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

Initially the probe was conducted by the Whitefield police. Later, an SIT was formed under the direct control of the City Police Commissioner, on a suggestion made by the High Court. However, the case was then transferred to an SIT of the Criminal Investigation Department, after the Police Commissioner expressed inability before the court to spare more personnel for the probe following the declaration of the State Assembly elections.