Told Russian Woman, Child Left Without Passport, Court Suspects Embassy Role

Russian woman Victoria Basu has most likely reached Russia via UAE after she escaped to Nepal from Bihar, the Delhi Police informed the Supreme Court today. Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhatti, representing the Centre and the Delhi Police, said tracing her IP address, they found that "July 7 is when she left her home, on July 8 she is in Bihar, then Nepal on July 11 and 12, and then Russia on July 16".

The woman had gone missing with her child amid a custody battle with her Indian husband, Saikat Basu, and a massive search has been on for her since last week.

Taking strong exception to the woman giving the authorities the slip,  the Supreme Court said this was a direct contempt of court and diplomatic channels will have to be activated at the earliest.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi decided that this could not have been done without the help of Russian embassy. 

The judges noted that the passport of the four-year-old child was surrendered in court and someone most likely from Russian Embassy might have helped fabricate one. 

The court said an investigation must be initiated and sought status report from the police within a week. 

In a previous hearing, the Supreme Court had expressed serious concern and said something needs to be done very quickly by the police and authorities to trace Victoria Basu.

Last week, ASG Bhatti had said the woman did not leave the country with child through any "legal route" and the police were still searching for her. The foreign ministry and the home ministry have issued lookout notices for her following the court's directions, she had said. 

The Russian embassy, she had added, was fully cooperating with the investigation. 

The Russian ambassador had communicated to the authorities that she had visited the embassy on July 5 and complained against the "misbehaviour of her husband". The embassy apparently had asked her to approach the police with her complaints. 

On July 10, the woman's mother lodged a complaint with the embassy that she was missing, the court was told. 

The court -- in the last hearing - had said that the police should be alerted and it is necessary to find the woman as soon as possible.