Kuwaiti woman goes missing in India, found in Bangladesh

Agencies | Kolkata                                        

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

A 31-year-old woman from Kuwait who had arrived in India for treatment and went missing from Kolkata last month has been spotted in neighbouring Bangladesh this week, a police officer said here on Thursday.

After a thorough investigation, the Kolkata Police informed the Kuwaiti Embassy that the woman, along with a man, has crossed the international border to enter Bangladesh.

“It was then the Kuwaiti Embassy sought the help of Bangladesh and the woman was found from a house in that country on Monday. The police there have handed her over to the Kuwaiti authorities,” the police officer said.

The woman came to Kolkata with her younger brother on January 20 and put up at a five-star hotel in East Kolkata. She was getting treatment for some skin-related problems in a private hospital.

After a tour of other tourist attractions of Kolkata, she along with her younger brother had gone to Alipore zoo on January 27 from where she went “missing”, the officer said.

Her brother then went to Alipore police station and informed the officer “in broken English” about what had happened.

As her mobile phone containing a Kuwaiti sim could not be tracked, the police started examining CCTV footage.

“CCTV footage showed that she got into a yellow taxi with a man wearing a suit, a cap and a mask. So, identifying him was tough. We spotted the taxi driver and got to know that they got down near Marquis Street (in central Kolkata),” the senior police officer said.

From there, they took another taxi and reached the Bangladesh border near Bangaon in the neighbouring North 24 Parganas district.

“Then they could not be spotted anywhere inside the Indian territory. Based on the description and after scanning hundreds of CCTV footage, we got a photograph of the man who is probably a Bangladeshi national,” he said.

A red alert was issued against the man. The staff of the Alipore Police Station and Anti-Rowdy Section of Kolkata Police talked to their sources and after it was clear that they have crossed the international border, they informed the Kuwaiti Embassy in New Delhi.

The embassy has sent an appreciation letter to the Kolkata Police lauding the role of its officers in helping them rescue the woman, the officer added.

No details on what happened to the man who apparently is her beau, nor the location in Bangladesh from where the Kuwaiti citizen was found were shared with the media.