Nadia district magistrate said a search is on for the missing officer Arnab Roy
The wife of a poll official who went missing from his office on Thursday afternoon has denied reports that he was depressed, and asked the media to help find him instead of "spreading rumours".
"I want to clarify that my husband, Arnab Roy, is not suffering from depression and we have a healthy and hearty relationship. I request the media to stop spreading rumours and instead help me find him... I want my husband back," said Anisha Jash in a Facebook post.
State Election Observer Ajay Nayak had claimed on Friday that Mr Roy - a 30-year-old nodal officer in charge of handling electoral equipment for the Ranaghat parliamentary constituency - may have been suffering from depression. "For now, it seems like the disappearance is not election-related. We have appointed someone else in his place," he said.
Nadia district magistrate Sumit Gupta said that a search is on for the missing officer, and dismissed reports that he was spotted at Asansol, his hometown, in Paschim Bardhaman district.
"We have shared his photographs with police officers in other districts as well as the authorities of nearby states. There is no news of him," Mr Gupta told news agency PTI, adding that he has no idea whether the poll official suffered from "psychological issues".
The district magistrate, however, said he was aware of an earlier incident when Mr Roy had gone missing for two days.
Mr Roy had left his home for the Bipradas Choudhury Polytechnic College, where he was posted on election duty, on Thursday. Although he was soon found to be missing with both mobile phones turned off, his vehicle remained parked outside the building.
The headmaster of a school in Itahar had gone missing during the 2018 panchayat elections. His body was later recovered.
The Ranaghat parliamentary constituency, a stronghold of the Trinamool Congress, will go to the polls on April 29.
(With inputs from PTI)