Ahmedabad, July 9 (IANS) Probing the deaths of two students of a school associated with the Asharam Bapu Ashram here in the weekend, the police were looking for the person who first spotted the bodies but has been “missing” since. A police team was leaving for Orissa to trace Sunil Banerjee, Sabarmati police station inspector K.B.Jhala told IANS Wednesday.

Ashram authorities called the police only after Banerjee reported the finding of the two bodies behind the Ashram Gurukul school.

Jhala denied Banerjee was a resident of the ashram. “He just came for a short visit and left in due course,” he said.

When contacted, an ashram official said there was nothing unusual in Banerjee leaving the ashram but he could not say where he could have gone.

Banerjee might hold the key to the mystery of the strange deaths of the two cousins, Dipesh Vaghela, 10, and Abhishek Vaghela, 11, whose decomposed and disfigured bodies were found behind the Asharam Gurukul near the Motera Stadium on the outskirts of the city.

The boys were missing from the Gurukul since Thursday night.

Jhala said the police were awaiting the report of the Forensic Science Laboratory. An FSL team had Tuesday searched the dried riverbed, from where the bodies were recovered, for evidence.

“We suspect a foul play. How come they (the boys) could go out in the night despite strict security in the ashram? Our children had no bad habits,” Dipesh’s father Praful Vaghela has said.

“Police told us they found Rs.1,100 in their pockets. Where did the money come from? We never gave them the money. The claims of Gurukul authorities are patently false,” he said.