The family of Bangalore teen Souvik Pal, who went missing on New Year’s Eve in Manchester in the United Kingdom, has sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention to intensify the search process.
Mahuya Pal, mother of the missing 19-year-old, on Friday wrote a letter to Dr. Manmohan Singh appealing to him to direct the External Affairs Ministry and its British counterparts to trace her son at the earliest.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
The family, hailing from Kolkata and living here, has already written to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seeking their help.
Both have not replied yet, but the family has spoken to Subrata Bakshi, Member of Parliament for Kolkata (South), who explained to them the procedures involved in seeking help from the British government to locate their son.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Ms. Pal, in her letter, mentioned that her husband Santanu had reached Manchester on January 6 and is in touch with local authorities, university officials and friends, but no one has been able to give any further information.
She said it has been [over] 10 days since Souvik, pursuing an undergraduate course in product design at the Manchester Metropolitan University, has gone missing.
“We received the last update from Manchester police on January 5 when they were searching the nearby canal and tracking CCTV footage. After that, we have not received any updated feedback from them,” she said.
Souvik was last seen on New Year’s Eve at the Warehouse Project, a pub in Old Trafford, where he went with five others. “Since then, his mobile phone has been switched off,” his mother said.
Acknowledgement
Meanwhile, Anupam Das, a family friend, said the Pals’ letter sent to Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar’s office received an acknowledgement.
In reply, the Chief Minister’s Office intimated the family that the letter has been forwarded to the State Home Ministry to look into the matter.