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CBI closure report accepted in 2010 Yemen disappearance case of Haryana man
While accepting the closure report, the court noted that there was no justification to reject the CBI’s plea given several constraints, including a six-year delay in the registration of the FIR by local police, a further delay of nearly 12 years in transferring the probe to the CBI, and the inability to trace the missing person after more than 11 years, especially since the incident occurred outside India.
The court of the special judicial magistrate, CBI, Panchkula, has accepted the closure report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a kidnapping case related to the disappearance of Sombir, a Haryana resident who had gone to work with a shipping company in Yemen in 2010. The order, passed on February 6, effectively closes the case for now, which has remained unresolved for more than a decade.
The investigation was handed over to the CBI in 2023 on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court. While accepting the closure report, the court noted that there was no justification to reject the CBI’s plea given several constraints, including a six-year delay in the registration of the FIR by local police, a further delay of nearly 12 years in transferring the probe to the CBI, and the inability to trace the missing person after more than 11 years, especially since the incident occurred outside India.
The court also took note of statements by Sombir’s wife and son, who expressed satisfaction with the CBI investigation and did not oppose acceptance of the closure report. However, the court clarified that the CBI would be free to conduct further investigation if any fresh incriminating material regarding Sombir’s whereabouts emerges in the future. The closure report was filed by the agency in January this year.
An FIR in the case was registered on April 25, 2017, following a complaint by Sombir’s father, Maha Singh, who has since died. In compliance with a July 2023 high court order in a civil writ petition, the CBI registered a regular case under Sections 365, 496 and 420 of the IPC and began its probe.
According to the complaint, Sombir left for Yemen on September 29, 2010, through Yudhvir Rathi of a defence academy in Rohtak, along with his nephew Karmvir and another man, Kuldeep. While Karmvir later returned to India, Sombir and Kuldeep did not.
During the investigation, the CBI contacted multiple national and international agencies, including maritime authorities, the Indian Navy and Yemen authorities, but found no records of the vessels or the missing men. Immigration data confirmed their departure from India but showed no return, and checks through NATGRID, Interpol and other databases yielded no leads. The agency found no evidence of kidnapping or cheating against the suspected individuals, leading to the closure of the case.
