Agatha seeks Union Railway Minister’s intervention
By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh was caught unawares about the case of the missing Rector of Don Bosco College, Tura, Fr Francis Fernandez. Fr Fernandez had gone missing from the Rajdhani Express train in North Bengal since October 27.
“I have not received any information about Fr Fernandez and details about him having gone missing,” Lyngdoh said on Monday while replying to a query about whether the State Government is co-coordinating with the Assam Police about the progress of the investigation to trace the missing priest.
Meanwhile, DGP N Ramachandran said that the State police have not sent any team to assist the investigation since the FIR was filed in Assam.
“The case is being jointly investigated by the Assam Police and Railway Protection Force (RPF). Definitely, we are co-coordinating to know the latest development about the investigation,” Ramachandran said.
Earlier, following the disappearance of Fr Fernandez, the North-East Frontier Railways authorities constituted a special team of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) under Superintendent of Police Railways, Rana Bhuyan to get to the bottom of the matter.
Assam police and NF Railways in Guwahati have informed that the team left for Siliguri and New Jalpaiguri railway stations on Saturday itself.
They managed to locate the two public call booths (PCOs) near the station from where two separate messages were sent to the Rector’s colleagues by a mysterious person.
The police are now trying to obtain the Call Detail Records (CDR) of the missing phone of Fr Fernandez to find out who was in contact with him prior to his disappearance. They have also located the other passengers who were in the same compartment as Fr Fernandez. Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Rural Development, Ms Agatha Sangma on Monday urged the Union Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi to personally intervene in case of Fr. Fernandez, Our New Delhi correspondent adds. “I am sorry to draw your kind attention to the missing case of Fr.Francis Fernandez, the Salesian Rector of Don Bosco College, Tura, who reportedly went missing from the Rajdhani Express in North Bengal on October 27,” she said in a letter.