Chetan (22), a resident of Rohini, New Delhi, went missing from Punjab's Patiala district while on his way to take attend his Journalism degree exam at Punjabi University, Patiala, on May 5.

According to his family, he had been pick-pocketed on the way and called his mother and uncle Rabbi Shergill asking them to take him home. Soon, his phone was found switched off. This led his family to launch a search at his last traced location, Saddowal in Patiala district.

On May 13, the Haryana Police with the help of a Punjab-based private diver Ashu Malik traced a body matching the description of Chetan and handed it over to Rabbi Shergill. Chetan's family members, including his mother, identified the body and claimed it. The post-mortem examination stated that the viscera, two bones and four teeth had been handed over for the forensic test; Mohini's blood samples were also taken for DNA matching.

The Shergill family performed the last rites in Delhi assuming the body to be Chetan's. They, however, had claimed that they were not sure that the body was their son's as they say that the doctor who conducted the post-mortem had told them that it was 7-9 cm taller than Chetan, who is 5 feet 8 inches tall.

The Shergills have announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information on Chetan and pasted posters at various places. They claim that they are getting calls from people who claim to have seen Chetan. Based on one such call, the family is searching for Chetan in Dharamsala.

"The FSL doctors told us that the samples do not match. This has given us hope that Chetan might be alive. We hope that agencies will help us in tracing him," Rabbi Shergill said. One of the doctors, who performed the DNA test, said: "The results are negative. We have conducted the test thrice to rule out any doubt."