Court seeks affidavit on missing man

Mangalore, November 25: The mystery behind the missing of Arafath (23), a fisherman from Ullal, deepens as his whereabouts have not been found even after five days. Mohammed Basheer, Arafath's father, alleged that his son was picked up by Bajpe police from his house in Kotepura in Ullal between 1.30 am and 2.30 am on November 18.

Basheer alleged in his complaint that three policemen in uniform who had come to his house to arrest his son introduced themselves as cops from Bajpe police station. They forcibly dragged Arafath from the house and dumped him in a vehicle, which was parked at a little distance. "One of them was a police constable of Ullal police station," Basheer claimed.

Advocate Dinesh Hegde Ulepady said that Basheer had gone to Bajpe police station on November 19 and had seen his son there. "Basheer waited outside the police station requesting the police to release his son. However, the police asked him to come the next day. When his efforts went futile, on November 22, he filed a search warrant petition before the second JMFC Court in Mangalore under section 97 of the CrPC.

The court passed an order asking the police to produce Arafath. However, on November 23, Bajpe police in writing said that there was no such person in the police station and Arafath was neither arrested or detained by them," the advocate said. Following this, the court appointed advocated Jayaraj Rai as the court commissioner to find the fact.

Advocate Rai, who conducted inquiry, too maintained in his report that there is truth in the submission made by the petitioner. "Arafath was detained illegally in the Bajpe police station," Rai stated in his report.

Advocate Ulepady has now filed a memorandum pleading the court to summon Bajpe inspector and police constable Gangadhar to appear before the court in person and execute an affidavit narrating true facts. The court will hear the memorandum submitted by the advocate on November 26.