Uttar Pradesh: Retired navy officer sues security agency, guards after pet dog goes missing

The pet dogs went missing on December 28, when the officer was in Mumbai.

The Barabanki police registered an FIR against a private security agency and its guard after a retired Indian Navy official's two pet dogs went missing, officials said on Friday.

The FIR was lodged on January 7 at the Barabanki Kotwali police station. (Representational)

Ajay Kumar Pandey, a retired naval officer and resident of Shalimar Paradise residential colony in Uttar Pradesh's Safedabad had two pet dogs, named Laila and Simba, who were registered with the Lucknow Municipal Corporation.

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According to PTI, the dogs went missing on December 28, when Pandey was in Mumbai. Later, the retired official filed a complaint against security guards from ISS Security Company, who were responsible for the safety of the residential premises, allegedly disabled the colony's CCTV cameras and drove away the dogs.

The FIR was lodged on January 7 at the Barabanki Kotwali police station. In the official complaint, Pandey accused security guard Chandra Kumar and the ISS Security Company of abducting his pets.

The Uttar Pradesh police have launched an investigation into the matter. However, there are no significant leads yet in the case.

"Investigations are ongoing, but there is no lead so far," Kotwali's Inspector Alok Mani Tripathi said.

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Officer Tripathi further confirmed that the police had reviewed footage from CCTV cameras installed within the residential complex. However, no trace of the missing dogs has been found within the premises.

In a bid to further track down the dogs, the police are now expanding their search by reviewing recordings from over 50 CCTV cameras along the Lucknow-Ayodhya highway.

Despite these efforts, the dogs' whereabouts remain unknown.

Couple announces ₹50,000 reward for leads on missing pet dog

In November last year, a Delhi-based couple announced a reward of ₹50,000 for their dog which went missing from a hotel in Agra.

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The couple, Dipayan Ghosh and Kasturi Patra had gone on a vacation to Agra and had taken their two pet dogs with them. They had checked in the dogs at a reputed hotel where they were staying, on November 1 and handed over the care of the dogs to the hotel staff by paying ₹2,000.

However, when they returned from their visit, they found that one of their dogs had disappeared.