Kanpur: Panki Power Plant Executive Engineer Goes Missing After Visiting Wife, Car Found Abandoned on Ganga Bridge

Kanpur: A senior engineer from the Panki Power Plant, Executive Engineer Atul Rai, has been missing for the last two days. The episode unfolded after he visited his wife amid an ongoing family dispute, following which the matter escalated to the police station. Though a settlement was reached at the police station, Rai later left his office in his private car and has not been seen since.

On Wednesday evening, his i10 car was found abandoned on the old Ganga bridge in Jajmau, prompting a large-scale police search operation.

Visited Wife, Argument Reached Police Station

According to police investigations, Atul Rai left his home on Tuesday night, telling his family he was heading to duty. However, instead of going to office, he went to meet his wife Anita, who lives separately in a rented flat in Panki MIG area due to marital differences. A heated argument broke out between the two. The dispute intensified to such an extent that Anita dialed women’s helpline 1090 around 11:15 pm.

Police arrived at the flat and brought both parties to the Jajmau police station, where a compromise was reached, and both agreed to continue living separately.

Left Office in His Private Car, Then Disappeared

Following the compromise, Rai first reached his office in a government vehicle. Later, he left the premises in his private car. CCTV footage accessed from Smart City cameras shows:

• 2:19 am: Rai’s car leaves the office gate.
• 2:25 am: Camera captures him at Panki Bhatia Tiraha.
• 2:28 am: Seen again at Panki Padav.
• 3:44 am: His car appears on Jajmau Ganga Bridge.
• 3:55 am: The car returns from the Unnao side and is parked on the bridge.

It remained there until the police discovered it on Wednesday evening around 6 pm.

Search Operation Underway

Rai, originally from Ballia, lives in Kanpur with his parents, while his wife lives separately with their son and daughter. After the car was found, Jajmau police contacted the family using the registration number. His father later filed a missing person report.

Police teams from Panki and Jajmau have begun scanning CCTV footage across all possible routes and have also initiated a search operation in the Ganga river. However, the engineer remains untraceable.

Investigations are ongoing.