UK police and family deny reports Indian Sikh student found dead, say he is still missing

LONDON: The family of an Indian Sikh student who has gone missing in London have denied media reports that he is dead and say they are still anxiously looking for him.
TOI spoke to the India-based brother of Gurashman Singh Bhatia, 23, known as Ashman Singh, who has been missing since his birthday celebration on Friday night. He and his mother are anxiously waiting in Model Town, Jalandhar, whilst Bhatia’s father has arrived in London and is searching for his beloved son with the help of a relative in the UK.
Bhatia arrived in London in January to read a one year master’s at Loughborough University.The brother told TOI on the phone from Punjab on Wednesday: “We still do not know where he is. It is not true that his body has been recovered. We are still hunting for him. He had celebrated his birthday with three friends in his room in Canary Wharf on Friday night. He lives in a rented flat there. Then he went for a walk with his friends late at night and the friends then went back to their flats but he never went back to his. We cannot reach him on his phone. He was very happy in London. His friends have told everything to the police.”
The friends apparently took taxis home and when they could not reach their friend by phone raised the alarm.
A spokesperson for Metropolitan Police told TOI: “We are aware of the investigation and are in regular contact with officers about it. No body has been found.” The spokesman said that it was not the case his body had been pulled from the water in Canary Wharf, as was stated in several media reports. “We have not recovered any body and the reports are wrong. The search does continue,” he told TOI on Wednesday.
Loughborough University also confirmed that as far as they were concerned Bhatia was still missing. Iren Deep Brown, Bhatia’s aunt, who lives in Brighton, posted on Facebook: “Police in the UK are still looking for Gurashman and this is still a missing person’s investigation. Lots of media in India are going around speculating that a body has been found and lots of very disturbing information which is not true. We are all still looking for Ashman so please stop the fake news and please wait for us to confirm when we know where Gurashman is. It’s completely out of Ashman’s character to go anywhere and not be in touch with his family members or friends. Ashman’s mother, father, brother and grandparents are all worried sick about him many miles away in India and don’t know where to turn and what to do at the moment.”