Bangalore: The family of Indian youth Souvik Pal, who was murdered and whose body was found in January 22 in a canal at Manchester UK 23 days after he went missing from a nightclub, is waiting for the outcome of the probe into his mysterious death.
“As the investigation is still underway, we don’t have much information on how Souvik went missing and how his body was found three weeks later in the canal near the soccer stadium and the nightclub where he was last seen Dec 31. We are anxiously waiting to know what happened to him,” the 19-year-old victim’s grieving father Shantanu Pal told reporters Thursday.
Earlier in the day, Pal returned to the city with Souvik’s body from London and met his devastated family, including his inconsolable wife Mahuya Pal. The mortal remains were later cremated.
Hoping that the truth about the sudden disappearance of his son would come out, Shantanu said he was grateful to Manchester police for tracing Souvik’s body and helping him in bringing it to Bangalore.
“We are also thankful to the Indian High Commission in London and Birmingham for helping me in completing the formalities to bring the body as his mother was keen to conduct the last rites here,” Shantanu said.
Emotional scenes were witnessed at the Pals’ residence at Hebbal in the city’s northern suburb when the coffin was brought from the airport. His mother broke down after having a glimpse of the body before the last rites.
Souvik, an engineering under-graduate student at the Manchester Metropolitan University since September 2012, was last seen at a nightclub on the New Year eve.
Souvik called his parents Dec 31 night to wish them a happy New Year and told them that he would be going with his friends to celebrate the New Year at a nightclub.
The Pals came to know Jan 2 from Souvik’s friends that their son was not seen in the hostel after the New Year party. His friends lodged a complaint with Manchester police.
Pal, a civil engineer in Saudi Arabia, flew to Manchester Jan 4 to help police in the search operation.
Souvik’s father, who joined the Al Nahyan construction firm in Riyadh as an engineer last year, was in Bangalore then on an year-end holiday.
The Pals, who hail from Midnapore in West Bengal, have been living here since 2002.