Army officer who went missing from MP found in UP hotel

Three days after an Army officer went missing from Sagar town in Madhya Pradesh, he was found at a hotel in Lalitpur city in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh on Thursday after his location was traced on the basis of his ATM transaction, a police official said.

Lalitpur in UP is around 90 km from Sagar town in MP. Located in Jhansi, Lalitpur shares a border with Tikamgarh district in MP.

The officer, Lieutenant Colonel Pradeep Kumar Nigam, a resident of Gwalior who is currently posted at Mahar Regiment Centre (MRC) in Sagar, had gone out for his regular walk at around 6.30 am on Monday, but did not return home, the police said.

"Lt Col Nigam has been found in Lalitpur in UP. We traced his location based on an automated teller machine (ATM) transaction. Our team reached the spot and found him in a hotel," Additional Superintendent of Police Lokesh Sinha told reporters here.

"He is fine and we have handed him over to his family," he said, adding that the police were investigating the circumstances under which he reached the neighbouring state.

The officer was found in the same clothes - a T-shirt and a pair of track pants - that he was wearing when he went missing, the ASP said.

The police and army teams had scanned CCTV footage to trace Nigam. The Army officer's family members were also questioned as part of the investigation, the police had said earlier.

Army personnel had lodged a missing person's complaint at the Cantonment police station in Sagar after failing to find Lt Col Nigam, they said. -- PTI