Missing Army Capt turns up at police station

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 13

Army Capt Shikhar Deep, who went missing after boarding a train from Bihar on February 6, showed up at Kotwali police station, Faizabad, in Uttar Pradesh this morning, the state police said.

The young Army officer said he had been kidnapped.

“I have talked to Captain Shikhar Deep over phone. He is in Kotwali police station of Faizabad district and he is fine. The army personnel took him to Dogra cantonment (in Faizabad),” Superintendent of Railway Police (SRP) Jitendra Kumar Mishra told PTI.

Mishra said Shikhar Deep called his sister on her mobile in Katihar this morning and informed her that he was at Kotwali police station of Faizabad.

She then informed their father Anant Kumar, a Lt Col-rank officer posted at Ranchi, who in turn told the SRP about his son's sudden appearance at Faizabad.

Mishra said Shikhar Deep told him that he got off Mahananda Express at Patna Junction to drink water and lost consciousness thereafter.

When he regained consciousness, the Captain said he found himself tied to a chair at an unknown place. He managed to free himself, ran a few kilometres and then took Kamakhya Express.

However, the SRP said, the Army officer could not tell him the place where he boarded Kamakhya Express and where he got down from the train.

The Captain said he somehow reached Faizabad and went to Kotwali police station where he introduced himself.

The Army had initiated massive efforts to trace the officer, who was missing since February 7.

A native of Purnia district in Bihar, the officer was posted at the LoC in Rajouri district of Jammu region and was returning from leave to resume his duties.

Captain Shikhar Deep, 25, is the son of a serving Army officer, Lt Col Anant Kumar, currently posted at Ranchi.

The captain was on 30-day leave from January 11 to February 10 and was returning to duty via Mahananda Express from Kathihar in Bihar to Delhi on February 6.

His luggage had been traced by Railway and Army authorities in Delhi and nothing except cash from a wallet was missing from his luggage. An FIR was lodged by the officer’s relatives with the Railway Police, Katihar, on February 8. — With PTI inputs