Missing Patna doc: Police mull cash reward for leads

Dr Sanjay Kumar, head of the pharmacology department at the NMCH, had left his house in Patna for Muzaffarpur on March 1 but never returned.

A proposal has been sent to Bihar Police headquarters to announce a reward of ₹2 lakh for any one with information that helps crack the case of mysterious disappearance of a government hospital in Patna, who has been missing since March 1, a senior police officer said on Monday.

Dr Sanjay Kumar with his wife Saloni Kumari. (HT Photo)

Dr Sanjay Kumar, head of the pharmacology department at the NMCH, had left his house in Patna for Muzaffarpur on March 1 but never returned.

His family has already lodged a case of kidnapping with Patrakar Nagar police station in Patna. The family, however, has not received any ransom call so far.

Senior superintendent of the police (SSP) Rajiv Mishra on Monday told reporters a proposal of a cash reward of ₹2 lakh for information on the missing doctor has been forwarded to the police headquarters.

According to police, the doctor was last seen at the Gandhi Setu, the bridge over river Ganga connecting Patna and Hajipur, at 7:41 pm on March 1 in an image captured by a CCTV on the bridge. Kumar is seen shutting the car door before setting out on foot himself in the direction of Hajipur. The car was found abandoned on the bridge. Since then, divers have carried out extensive searches in the river.

“Pictures of Dr Kumar, his description and others details have been circulated on the different parts of Bihar as well as Sahebganj in Jharkhand and West Bengal’s Murshidabad, Kolkata, Hooghly and Barrackpur,” the Patna SSP said, in an apparent reference to the course of Ganga.