Barman came on medical visa for treatment at Siliguri in West Bengal on March 20 last year, attended the hospital for two days, then went to Thakur Anukul Chandra Ashram at Deoghar and is untraceable since March 24 last year.
For the ministry of external affairs (MEA), additional solicitor general Archana Pathak Dave informed the Supreme Court, which has in session of a habeas corpus petition by Barman’s wife in session, that the person remains untraceable and that the relatives must lodge a zero FIR relating to a missing person complaint with Jharkhand police at Deoghar. What was intriguing for the SC was the categorical denial by the MEA that Barman has neither been detained, arrested, nor deported by Indian authorities and that his status remains as a missing person. Dave also informed the court that Indian authorities have not communicated at all with the Bangladesh counterparts on Barman.
Adding further complications to an already complicated case, the West Bengal government informed the court that Barman’s mobile phone number was found to be used by a person at Barh in Bihar, which is proximate to Deoghar in Jharkhand, the place he visited last before becoming untraceable.