Nagpur, Aug 9 (IANS): The Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh Police are jointly probing the mysterious case of a ‘missing’ Bharatiya Janata Party activist of Nagpur who is now “presumed murdered”, nine days after she had gone to Jabalpur, officials said here on Wednesday.

The missing woman, Sana Khan alias Heena, 35, attached to the BJP Minority Wing, had gone from Nagpur (Maharashtra) to Jabalpur (MP) on August 1 and had contacted her brother Mohsin M. Khan around 6 a.m. that day

As per the latest developments in the investigation, a suspect has claimed that Sana may have been murdered and her body thrown into the Hiran River flowing near the Katangi-Damoh road.

According to the family and police, she had gone to meet her business partner and husband Amit Sahu, alias Pappu that day, and since then both their phones were ‘switched off’ in Bilhari, barely 7 kms on the outskirts of Jabalpur city.

When frantic efforts to contact Sana failed, her brother -- who cares for her 13-year-old son -- lodged a complaint with the Jabalpur Police and her mother Mehrunissa filed a complaint with Mankapur Police in Nagpur.

Alarmed for her safety, the family also met Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and apprised him in detail about the mystery of the missing Sana after which the police in both states intensified their probe.

Mankapur Police Station in-Charge Inspector Shubhangi Wankhede said that a police team had visited Bilhari and Jabalpur, met the family and others linked with Sana, but drew a blank.

“We were also trying to trace both Sana and Sahu with whom she was last reported to be seen. We fear she may have been murdered, but so far, her body has not been found. We are continuing our investigations,” Wankhede told IANS.

A resident of Gorabazar in Bilhari, Sahu runs a wayside eatery, Ashirwad Dhaba on the Jabalpur-Damoh highway in MP purportedly in partnership with his wife Sana whom he married around six months ago.

An employee of the dhaba identified as Jitender, has informed the MP Police that on August 2, Sana and Sahu allegedly had a big brawl.

Later, he was ordered to throw away a plastic bag containing some weighty stuff into a nearby drain and then wash out bloodstains in Sahu’s white car dickey and seat.

At that time, Jitender said he noticed a red-coloured bag kept inside the vehicle with bottles of liquor and a pair of shoes, raising further suspicions on the fate of Sana.

Incidentally, after that, Jitender escaped from there to Sagar, but was traced by MP Police and brought back to the eatery for the investigations, when he spilled the beans on his missing boss Sahu.

Though the police in both states are unwilling to categorically state that Sana may have been ‘killed’, after Jitender’s revelations, the investigations are on the lines of a murder case.

Sana’s family have alleged that Sahu has murdered her and disposed off her body, and urged the police to search and retrieve her mortal remains.

The Nagpur and Jabalpur police teams also broke open and searched a location where Sana-Sahu had stayed on the night of August1-2, but found no clues.

The neighbours said they heard a loud quarrel from the room around 7.30 a.m. on August 2, but after some time things became quiet.

Subsequently, some eyewitnesses claimed noticing Sahu carrying a large parcel, placing it in his white car and then driving off from there – the last that he was seen.