Marine Drive police said they have recorded the statement of State Public Information Officer Prashant Rathod in relation to a file that mysteriously went missing last year, RTI activist Santosh Daundkar told mid-day on Friday. The file disappeared when it was sent to the third floor of Mantralaya for photocopy, which was supposed to be sent to the activist in response to his RTI query.

In his statement, Rathod has told the police that they are looking for the file, said Daundkar. mid-day on January 12 reported about the mysterious disappearance of the file, which is related to RB Mitkar, the deputy chief engineer at Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA)-Mumbai. According to Daundkar, Maharashtra’s laws state that a government officer’s tenure expires in three years, however, Mitkar, who joined office on January 15, 2017, continues to hold the post. In June, Daundkar filed an RTI query seeking to know why his term was extended, but was told in July that the file had gone missing. He wrote to the Marine Drive police on November 9, urging them to register an FIR to probe how a file disappeared from Mantralaya.