Missing Army jawan from Telangana remains untraced

Hyderabad, Dec 16:  An Army jawan from Telangana, who went missing while travelling to Punjab's Faridkot on December 6, remained untraced.

B. Sai Kiran Reddy of Siddipet district, who had boarded the Patalkot Express from Safdarjung Railway Station in Delhi, went missing enroute. The Army authorities also informed his family that he did not report for duty at Faridkot.

A team of police officials from Siddipet probing the case found that the 21-year-old got down at Bathinda instead of Faridkot and got into a car. The team, which verified the CCTV camera footage at the railway station, is trying to trace him. He is believed to have returned to Delhi.

His mobile phone was last active near Sampla, near Haryana's Rohtak town, at around 1.30 p.m. on December 6. The case turned mysterious as the police also found that cash was withdrawn from his ATM card at Connaught Place in Delhi on December 6 night.

Earlier, the card was also used to pay money at a dhaba in Bathinda. The police investigations revealed the entire Rs 19,000 in Reddy's bank account was withdrawn on the same day.

The police team, which is in Delhi, suspects that he bought another mobile phone in Delhi. The investigators were working on various leads including CCTV footage.

A resident of Pothireddypally village under Cheriyal police station limits in Siddipet, Reddy came home for a vacation on November 17 and he was scheduled to report for duty on December 6.

As he did not reach his unit, an Army official tried to reach him on his mobile phone but it was switched off. He then called Reddy's father Patek Reddy, who informed him that his son left home on December 5 and even made a WhatsApp call before boarding the Delhi flight at the Hyderabad Airport.

With no information from any source about his whereabouts, his parents lodged a complaint with the Cheriyal police. The police registered an FIR and launched an investigation by constituting three teams. One of the teams left for Delhi.

Reddy's family said he had no intention to be a deserter. After 16-month training, he was posted as gunner in Faridkot six months ago. They said he came home thrice on leave during the period and never showed any indication that he was not interested in the Army duty.

According to the family, he had joined the Army on his own after discontinuing education. He had joined a degree college but discontinued the education as he had qualified for the Army job.