Father of missing Indian student Souvik Pal appeals for his son's safe return (From Messenger Newspapers)

Father of Souvik Pal, missing since attending the Warehouse Project, Trafford Quays, on New Year's Eve, appeals for his son's safe return

2:28pm Tuesday 8th January 2013 in News By Kate Banks, Reporter

THE father of Souvik Pal — the Indian student who has been missing since he attended the Warehouse Project, Trafford Quays, on New Year’s Eve — has flown to Manchester in a bid to find his son.

Engineer Santanu Pal said: "I am proud of my son and I will stay here until I get him back.

Mr Pal continued: "I would like to directly appeal to anyone who has any clues that can help the police search for Souvik, to call the police.

"This has been a very difficult time for our family back in India, including Souvik's younger brother, who views him as a role model.”

Souvik is 18-years-old and is studying product design at Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), where Mr Pal said he had made lots of friends which is a great comfort to the family.

He and six friends attended the Warehouse Project together on New Year’s Eve, but he has not been seen since around 11.05pm that night.

It was originally thought that Souvik was asked to leave the club at 1.30am, but CCTV footage has shown this happened at 11pm.

Det Ch Insp Colin Larkin said while Souvik had been drinking but has not been described as drunk by anybody, but rather was ejected from the venue after a misunderstanding with a doorman when asking where the toilets were.

Mr Pal described Souvik as a very creative, brilliant student and was extremely proud to hear from the Vice Chancellor of MMU that his son has been excelling academically.

“We are really, really depressed,” said Mr Pal.

“We don’t know what to say or how to express our feelings.”

Det Ch Insp Colin Larkin said: “With every day that passes, we are becoming more concerned for Souvik’s welfare.”

But said police are ‘clearly still looking to find him and bring him back to his family.”
 

He added that while police divers made a search of the canals at Trafford Wharf last week, there are no plans to conduct further water searches at this stage.

Souvik is described as Asian, 5ft 7in tall, of slim build and speaks with an Indian accent.

He has a scar on the right side of his forehead and was last seen wearing a pale denim long sleeve shirt with a collar, grey chino trousers and navy blue leather boots.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 4223 or call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.