Reported by Chinmaya Dehury

Bhubaneswar, Dec 11:

sharif

The Sharif family has done everything that it could; pray to Allah every morning and evening, following up with the commissionerate police on a daily basis hoping for some good news and even consulting an astrologer in Khurda. But 16 days after Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) officer Ibrahim Sharif went missing, there is no word on his whereabouts or even the reason for his mysterious disappearance.

“We want his safe return immediately. The desperate family members are anxiously waiting for Ibrahim’s return. An atmosphere of despondency is prevailing in the house as we have not received any information from police,” said Sudhan, elder brother of Ibrahim, who is in Bhubaneswar. He is working in Belure in Karnataka.

Every morning and evening, Sharif’s wife Salma Begum prays to Allah for her husband’s safe return. The desperate parents and in-laws of Sharif spent nearly two hours with an astrologer at Kaipadar near Khurda and conducted a puja praying for his early return on Thursday, sources said. But in the absence of any information on him, faith is fast turning into despair for her and other members of the family.

What has proved particularly shattering for the family is the fact that police, which had formed two teams to trace him, has expressed its helplessness after searching for him in Uttar Pradesh, where the IBM officer’s mobile phone had last showed up on the network briefly. In the meantime, one team has returned from Allahabad after failing to trace the mining officer.

“We are trying our best to locate the missing mining official. However, we are yet to get a break through on the case,” said Police Commissioner Dr. RP Sharma.

Sudhan told OST that they have already made a representation to the Home Secretary of the state to take steps in order to trace his brother on Monday.

The IBM office has also lodged a formal complaint with Infocity Police as part of its official course of action. It had also approached the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which expressed its inability to take up the case since it has to be handed over to it either by the State, Centre, High Court or Supreme Court.

"After being instructed by our head office, we reported about Sharief's absence without prior notice to the local police. We urged police to locate him at the earliest," said regional office's deputy controller of mines L H Chhangte.

Ibrahim is the second of four brothers. He got married to Salma Begun in 2008 and shifted to Bhubaneswar in 2011. Even though about five years have passed to his marriage, the couple doesn’t have any child.