DU teacher missing in US, cops suspect he committed suicide

A teacher of Dhaka University, who was doing his PhD at Purdue University in Indiana in the United States, has been reportedly missing since July 3.

Anik Paul, an assistant professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of Dhaka University, is suspected to have died of suicide by jumping into a river, Indiana police said.

Purdue University's student publication The Purdue Exponent quoting police reported that surveillance footage apparently captured Anik jumping into the Wabash river from the John T. Meyers Pedestrian Bridge at about 2:30am on July 3.

A rescue team from the local county sheriff department executed a search over six days using drones, canines and divers, reported the Exponent.

Police in Indiana called off the search operation on July 11. The newspaper quoted sheriff department's Lt Brian Lowe as saying that they have exhausted all options, but couldn't find any trace of him.

His family, however, do not believe that he committed suicide. They insist that he is still missing, and demanded further investigation.

"We heard that our brother is missing since July 3," said Bithi Paul, an assistant professor at a private university.

"My mother talked with her son [Anik] two days before he went missing. I spoke to him a week before that," she said, doubting the narrative she has heard so far.

"My brother had a strong personality. He grew up struggling in life. Even if he had depression, he would have known how to cope with it. He faced similar circumstances before. We cannot believe that he would jump off a bridge," she said.

The family said they are yet to see the surveillance footage that purportedly captured the moment when Anik jumped off the bridge.

Professor Md Enamul Haque, the head of the biochemistry department of DU, said the university's vice chancellor has communicated with the foreign ministry about the matter.