Soldier on way to duty goes missing

Naik G Srinivasa Rao, a gun fitter with 19 years of service, has gone mysteriously missing for more than a month leaving both his family and superiors clueless.

Rao, 40, went missing from Panipat in Haryana a month ago, while travelling to Jalandhar where he was newly posted on transfer from Roorkee in Uttarakhand.

The army jawan from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh got off a train in Panipat on May 8. Rao left from Vizag on May 6 and reached New Delhi on May 7 in the morning.

He took another train to Jalandhar the same evening.

An investigation revealed that the soldier who had fractured his right hand got off the train five hours before Jalandhar and has been untraceable since then.

His last call was to his wife Yagna Priya from a student's mobile phone during which he said that he lost his phone and wallet and he would get in touch with her after reporting for duty at Jalandhar.

Surprisingly three days later, he withdrew Rs 5,000 from his State Bank account from an ATM at GT road in Panipat.

Since then, Yagna (30), along with her two sons, has been going pillar to post requesting authorities to find her missing husband.

Rao who is set to retire from service on September 30, recently shifted his family to Visakhapatnam from Roorkee for his children's education.

"He had no problems at home or work. He left happily as he was set to retire in four months," Yagna told reporters.

After Yagna called up his unit office, a team was sent to Panipat but they failed to trace him. The family rushed to Panipat and also visited Delhi going from hotel to hotel enquiring about him.

The family's fears, that someone might have abducted him from the ATM, proved wrong as the CCTV footage showed only Rao walking in and walking out of the ATM.

For the army officials, it is a case of "not reported to duty".