A 22-year-old student from India went missing in the United States earlier this week. The mystery surrounding Saketh Sreenivasaiah’s disappearance has only deepened as he was reportedly last seen on Tuesday, February 10 (US time).
Even the Indian Consulate San Francisco, California, has responded to the shocking turn of events by joining the search-party in collaboration with local US authorities working on the case.
Who is Saketh Sreenivasaiah?
According to the Berkeley Police Department, Sreenivasaiah is being considered an at-risk missing person, local San Francisco outlet SFGate reported. He has been pursuing a postgraduate degree at the renowned University of California, Berkeley, or UC Berkeley.
As officials continue to ask for the community’s help in finding the Indian student, they also revealed some physical identifiers about the 22-year-old.
The report further cited Berkeley officials describing him as an Indian man who is 6 feet 1 inch tall and weighs about 160 pounds. He is said to have short black hair and brown eyes. A picture has since also been released, and is circulating online.
While not much else was disclosed by the police, authorities said that Saketh was last seen in the 1700 block of Dwight Way on Tuesday.
Another local news outlet, The Berkeley Scanner, reported that a search for the student was underway near Lake Anza. Saketh is said to have been upset about a relationship. A reader also told the outlet that his backpack, passport and laptop was found on a doorstep in the Park Hills neighbourhood next to Tilden Regional Park.
As per Indian officials’ response shared on X, Saketh hails from the Indian State of Karnataka.
Saketh’s LinkedIn profile bio confirms that he is a Master’s student in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering department at UC Berkeley in the US. He got his undergraduate degree from IIT Madras in India.
Indian officials join search for UC Berkeley student
Addressing the case at hand, the Consulate General of India in San Francisco issued a formal statement via the @CGISFO account on X today.
“Consulate General of India in San Francisco is deeply concerned about the disappearance of Saketh Sreenivasaiah, an Indian post-graduate student of UC Berkeley, hailing from the State of Karnataka,” the tweet stated.
Also tagging the official accounts of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal and the Indian Embassy in the US, the post affirmed, “The Consulate is in touch with the family and also is in contact with the concerned local authorities to locate the student.”
UC Berkeley student’s roommate issues plea
Baneet Singh, a fellow Indian-origin student pursuing his Bachelor of Science in BS, CS, and Data Science, also urged those with any information leading to Saketh to reach out to him.
Claiming to be the missing student’s roommate in a LinkedIn post shared this week, Singh said, “Saketh Sreenivasaiah, has been missing since monday the 9th, last seen near Lake Anza in the Berkeley hills. If anyone of my connects knows people in the area who has seen him recently, please reach out to me with any information.”
He further assured that he was working with the police to find Saketh. “It’s a hard time for us right now, please provide any information that could help,” Baneet added.