RTI activist goes missing after extortion FIR against him

A Gurgaon-based property dealer-cum-RTI activist, booked for extortion in Faridabad, has gone missing here under mysterious circumstances, police said on Monday.

Raman Sharma allegedly went missing from Gurgaon last week.

An FIR regarding his abduction was registered on September 26 here following his wife's missing persons complaint, stating that she dropped her husband at Rajeev Chowk at about 4 a.m. on September 23, from where he boarded a bus for Chandigarh.

Gurgaon police chief Navdeep Singh Virk said police were conducting an investigation and it was being monitored closely by senior officers. "We are likely to crack the case soon," he said.

On September 24, Faridabad police filed a case of extortion against Sharma.

"Since Sharma was closely following the developments in the extortion complaint enquiry in Faridabad, his disappearance appears to be linked with the case registered against him," Virk said.

In the complaint given to Faridabad police, complainant Rajan Goyal has alleged that he was a HUDA contractor and that Sharma used to take out the details of his contracts by filing RTI applications. After finding some lacunae he would blackmail him.

Goyal, a director of Brijgopal Construction Company, is a resident of Paschim Vihar in Delhi.

Virk said, "The timing of Sharma's disappearance, which coincides with the registration of the FIR at Faridabad and the fact that he has left behind his gold chain, all identity documents, mobile phone and other personal belongings at home suggest that the circumstances of the missing person of Gurgaon are suspect."

"However, Gurgaon police is not ruling out any possibility and looking at all the possible angles to find the whereabouts of the missing person," he added.