Man goes missing days after daughter's disappearance in Gorakhpur village; search on

Gorakhpur (UP): A man whose three-year-old girl went missing three days ago from the Pipraich area, also has now disappeared, police said on Tuesday.

The child, Nitya, went missing around 6.30 pm Saturday from her maternal grandparents' house in Ambedkar Nagar ward number 4 of Pipraich.

There has been no trace of her despite searches.

On Sunday, her father, Jogendra, too disappeared.

According to police, Jogendra, a labourer, was behaving suspiciously in the days following Nitya's disappearance, frequently distancing himself from the search operation on various pretexts.

He slipped away from police's watch on Sunday and has not been seen since.

"His sudden disappearance has raised serious doubts. We are now treating this as a dual missing case and all possibilities are being explored," Additional Superintendent of Police Jitendra Srivastava said.

Jogendra's wife Radhika and mother-in-law Geeta Devi claim they have no knowledge of his whereabouts.

Even villagers in his native place in Bolchaha, Padrauna (Kushinagar district), expressed ignorance when a police team led by Inspector Purushottam Anand Singh visited the area.

Six police teams have been deployed to look for the missing.

"We are hopeful of locating the child soon. No line of investigation is being ruled out," Srivastava said.