India

CBI Takes Over Investigation of 27‑Year‑Old Kerala Soldier Missing Since 2012

By PTI

The Central Bureau of Investigation has assumed responsibility for the investigation into the disappearance of Subhash Chandra Bose, a 27‑year‑old rifleman from Ernakulam district who went missing while traveling by train in April 2012. Bose, a native of Vengoor in Ernakulam, was returning to his post in Tripura after a leave of absence when he vanished. The case was transferred to the CBI following an order from the Kerala High Court last month, issued in response to a petition filed by Bose’s father, P K Balan. On October 28, the CBI Special Crime Branch filed a re‑registered FIR with the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. Bose had served in the Third Battalion of the Tripura State Rifles for seven years before his disappearance. According to the CBI, he boarded the Ernakulam‑Guwahati Express at Ernakulam Junction at 9:20 pm on April 3, 2012, on a general ticket without a reservation. Balan, who had accompanied him to the station, disembarked at Aluva. Bose told his father he would try to secure a seat with the help of the Travelling Ticket Examiner. He spoke to his mother on April 4, claiming he had reached Andhra Pradesh, and called again on April 5 to say his mobile recharge balance was low, promising to contact them after reaching his workplace. He never called again. On April 10, 2012, the family learned he had not reported for duty at his unit in Dhalai district. Balan lodged a complaint at the Ernakulam Railway Police Station on April 13, leading to a missing‑person case. Railway police later found that Bose was last seen alive at Visakhapatnam Railway Station. The case was transferred to the Government Railway Police in Visakhapatnam, which re‑registered it as a missing‑person case on October 15, 2012. The High Court directed the CBI to take over investigations into both the Ernakulam Railway Police case and the Visakhapatnam GRP case.