A Bengaluru-based tech professional, who had been missing since August 4, was located near a mall in Noida on Thursday evening. The man, a resident of North Bengaluru, was spotted exiting the mall after watching a movie, and was subsequently brought back to Bengaluru by police on Friday morning.
The techie’s disappearance sparked concerns after his wife took to social media, claiming that the police were not making sufficient efforts to find her husband. According to her, he went missing after stepping out to visit an ATM to withdraw cash. Fearing the worst, she suspected that her husband might have been kidnapped.
The initial investigation by the police yielded no clues, as the man had turned off his mobile phone, making it difficult to track him. The police reviewed CCTV footage from bus stands, railway stations, and even the airport, but to no avail. However, a breakthrough came when the techie purchased a new SIM card in Noida and inserted it into his old phone, enabling the police to trace his location.
Upon locating the man outside the Noida mall, the investigating officers approached him in plain clothes. “When three of us surrounded him, he realized we were cops. He smiled and asked, ‘What next?’ We told him we should fly back to the city, and he strongly objected,” an officer told The Times of India.
The techie initially resisted returning to Bengaluru, telling the officers, “You put me in prison, I will live there…but I won’t return.” However, he eventually agreed to fly back after the police explained that the missing person complaint filed by his wife could only be closed in his presence.
After arriving at Kempegowda International Airport on Friday morning, the man was taken to the police station to give a statement. In his statement, he revealed that he was facing harassment and torture from his wife. “I’m her second husband. When I met her around three years back, she was a divorcee with a daughter aged around 12. I was a bachelor and agreed to marry her. We have an eight-month-old daughter together,” he told the police.
He further explained, “She curtails my freedom, she shouts even if a drop of rice or a piece of chapati falls off my plate. I should dress according to her, I cannot go out alone to enjoy tea.” The man also disclosed that after his wife posted videos and pictures of him online, announcing his disappearance, he decided to change his appearance by shaving his head and altering his look.
The techie detailed his journey after leaving Bengaluru, stating that he traveled by bus to Tirupati, then by train to Bhubaneswar, and eventually made his way to Delhi before heading to Noida.
The police have since closed the missing person case, and the man has returned home.
