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Mystery shrouds Exide chief's 'message' to family, Bengal govt

Missing chairman and managing director of Exide Industries Limited Satyabrata Ganguly has sent a message that he would come back soon, West Bengal Home Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said this evening in Calcutta.

''We got information that he is alive, all right and is not not under any pressure,'' and that he will be coming back soon, Bhattacharya told mediapersons.

Ganguly himself sent the information to his family and the government, he added.

Ganguly has been missing since Friday last.

But media reports quotes family members of Ganguly, including his younger brother S Ganguly, vice-chairman of ACC, as saying that the missing Exide chairman did not contact the family.

Calcutta Police are yet to locate him, the home minister later clarified.

''Twenty-four hours have passed since we received the message and we are yet to locate him,'' he said.

''We were in the dark for the first four days and when we received the information from Ganguly himself, we thought we were poised for a breakthrough. But no headway could be made since yesterday,'' he said.

Intriguingly, the minister, however, refused to disclose how Ganguly had sent his communication but said the message, sent to his family and the state government, was authentic and verified by police.

''We are in constant touch with the Centre and the state governments of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and we are making all possible efforts to trace Ganguly. We hope he will come back soon,'' Bhattacharya said.

''We are yet to come to any conclusion. But it seems that he was not kidnapped for ransom,'' Bhattacharjee added.

UNI

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