PUNE: A Pune police team on Tuesday afternoon traced prominent two-wheeler dealer and businessman Gautam Pashankar (65) in a hotel at Jaipur, Rajasthan - 34 days after he went missing from near his house off the Ganeshkhind road in Pune.
Pashankar, who is chairman of Pashankar Auto, a two-wheeler dealership firm, besides, having interests in fuel stations, real estate and automobile sector, had left behind a note stating that nobody should be blamed for his action and that he had been suffering losses in the business for the last two to three years and his children were suffering because of his decision.
The Pune police had since launched an extensive search for him that took their teams to Kolhapur, Konkan region and Goa before the instant breakthrough.
Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Bachchan Singh told TOI, “Working on specific leads that Pashankar had travelled out of Maharashtra, our unit-1 team, headed by inspector Sunil Takawale and sub-inspector Sanjay Gaikwad, tracked him in a Jaipur hotel around 3pm today. He is being brought to Pune and we have informed his family about the development.”
Pashankar’s son, Kapil, confirmed to TOI that he got a call from the crime branch officials giving him the “good news”. “I haven't yet spoken to him (father) but will speak to him soon. I saw his photo, along with the policemen, that is circulating on social media. His health appears to have deteriorated a bit. He is a heart patient. We are waiting for his arrival here and I am a bit worried about his health.”
Kapil said his family has no links with Jaipur and he had no idea how and why his father went there. Much now depends on Pashankar’s statement to the police about the places he visited since leaving the city on October 21.
Pashankar had started with poultry business in the early 1980s before buying fuel stations and getting into real estate business. He owns a chain of two-wheeler showrooms and also got into four-wheeler dealership for GM and Audi cars.