Bangalore:
A distraught mother of 19-year-old Souvik Pal, missing from Manchester in Britain since January 1, on Wednesday made an emotional appeal to the Indian government to help trace her elder son.
"I appeal to the Prime Minister, President, and Chief Ministers of Karnataka and West Bengal to help us in locating my son Souvik as we have not heard from him since December 31," his mother Ms Mahuya told media in Bangalore.
Suvik's father Shantanu Pal, a civil engineer in Saudi Arabia, has rushed to Manchester to help police search for his son, a student at Manchester Metropolitan University, 320 km from London, since September 2012.
"We first came to know on January 2 that our son was not seen in the hostel after the New Year party. A complaint was lodged by Souvik's friends with police. It's nine days since he spoke to us," a tearful Ms Mahuya said.
Souvik called his parents on December 31 night to wish them a happy new year from Manchester and told them that he would be going to a new year party with his college and hostel friends at a nightclub.
"We too called back and wished him early on January 1. That was the last time we spoke," Ms Mahuya said.
Mr Shantanu, who joined the Al Nahyan construction firm in Riyadh as product designer last year, was in Bangalore on year-end holiday.
The Pals, who hail from Midnapore in West Bengal, have lived here since 2002 when Mr Shantanu came to join Swedish major ABB India energy firm as an engineer.
Souvik's brother Arkadyothi is a school student.
"It has been an agonizing wait as there is no sign of my son even after his father went to help the local police," Ms Mahuya said.
Scotland Yard has joined the search for Souvik outside Manchester borough. The Indian High Commission in London has stepped in to assist the rescue mission as his mobile handset has gone missing.
Police have used scuba divers to search nearby lakes and water bodies to check if anyone had drowned.