Nine years on, probe launched into missing head constable’s disappearance in Ludhiana

Head constable went missing in 2012, wife says cops refused to lodge FIR; matter came to fore after proceedings to terminate cop were initiated

In a peculiar incident, the district police learnt that one of their own had been missing for around nine years only after they initiated the procedure to dismiss the head constable from service for prolonged absence from duty.

It was only on February 18, 2020, that the PAU police station lodged a missing person’s report (Representative Image/HT )

The head constable, identified as Ranjit Singh, 50, who was deputed at Police Lines, had gone missing on August 16, 2012, under mysterious circumstances. The FIR has been lodged on the complaint of his wife Seema. The couple have three children and lived in Rishi Nagar.

“On August 16, 2012, my husband left for work, but did not return. When I informed the police, instead of lodging a missing person’s complaint, they made me run from one police station to another. All this to no avail,” said Seema.

Disappointed by the inaction, she went to live with her parents in Jammu. However, the police personnel kept contacting her to inform that her husband was not reporting to work. “Instead of looking for my husband, they kept informing me about his absence from duty, though I had told them about my husband’s disappearance.”

It was only on February 18, 2020, that the PAU police station lodged a missing person’s report, she said.

Seema said that when she received intimation from the police department that they had initiated the procedure to dismiss her husband for being absent for so long, she submitted a complaint to Ludhiana police commissioner Rakesh Agrawal. On the top official’s directions, the PAU police lodged an FIR under Section 346 (wrongful confinement in secret) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and initiated a probe.

Sub-inspector Jaskamal Singh said the police are trying to trace the head constable.