The search for Sahil Sharma
Sahil Sharma has been missing from Surrey for nearly a year. His family and the police are issuing a new public appeal for any information into the young man's disappearance.
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Updated: November 12, 2009 3:52 PM
After the police search for Sahil Sharma failed to find a trace, his mother and father flew from India to Canada to look for their missing first-born child.
They arrived in February.
With the aid of local relatives, they spent a month at it, putting up posters on almost every street corner in Surrey, speaking to his friends and pressuring police and politicians for help.
They went as far as Squamish and Whistler and they found nothing.
His uncle, Abhinandan Sharma, said the family has come to believe the 20-year-old student was the victim of foul play.
They plan to keep searching for clues to his fate.
"We are determined," Sharma says.
"We believe [his body] will come back to us."
Nov. 13 will mark the one-year anniversary of Sahil's disappearance.
One that date in 2008, the 20-year-old left his uncle's home in Surrey's Newton neighbourhood to head for the Surrey campus of Kwantlen Polytechnic University at 72 Avenue and 128 Street.
The 20-year-old from India's Punjab province was starting a new semester.
The oldest of two children had come to Canada to study for his bachelor's degree in information technology.
His grades were good, and he was making friends at the Surrey campus.
He was fitting in with his uncle's family, becoming a big brother figure to his young cousins.
"I looked after him like a father," Uncle Abhinandan says.
There were no signs of trouble, no depression.
His nephew was religious, Abhinandan Sharma says, going every Sunday to the Hindu temple in Burnaby to worship.
The Missing Persons Unit at the Surrey RCMP detachment has interviewed family and friends and gone through Sahil's e-mail and bank records to no avail. No one has tried to access his accounts since Nov. 13, 2008.
Investigators found no indication of medical or drug issues.
Sahil's family and the police are making a renewed appeal for public assistance in solving the case.
The missing student is 5'6", 144 lbs with black hair, brown eyes and a slight beard.
Anyone who might be able to assist the investigation is asked to call the Surrey RCMP at 604 599-0502 or if you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
dferguson@surreyleader.com
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