Son of Bihar official missing

PATNA - The 14-year-old son of a staffer in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s residence has been missing since Tuesday, police said Saturday.

Vivek Kumar, a Class 6 student of a private school, is the son of Sambhunath Jha, an official working in Nitish Kumar’s office. He left his home in Patliputra for some work Tuesday and failed to return.

“We suspect that Vivek has been abducted. Police have registered a missing case,” family friend Rajesh Kumar told IANS.

A missing case was lodged in Patliputra police station Friday. “Jha appealed to top officials, including police posted at the chief minister’s official residence, to help find his son,” a relative said.

An official in the Chief Minister’s Office said police have been directed to recover Jha’s son.

Nitish Kumar, after coming to power in November 2005, had promised to make Bihar a crime-free state within three months. But police records suggest otherwise.

While the chief minister claims that the number of kidnappings had come down drastically during his rule, such incidents are being reported at regular intervals across the state. Two days ago, two traders were abducted in Bagaha district.