Former additional secretary Ashish Joshi was taken away by two policemen in plainclothes from Delhi’s Nehru Park on Wednesday morning and released roughly 12 hours later – a day in which his family and his friends said they never were told who had picked him up or where he had been taken.

Questions about Joshi’s whereabouts began to be raised on social media as soon as news of the pick-up spread. Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit wrote on X: “I came to know about this when his wife spoke to me in the morning. We have been trying to find out where he is since 10 am, but there is no clue. We are very worried, and the Delhi Police should tell us at the earliest where he has been taken.”

An older post by Joshi on X, which was earlier taken down, was also widely discussed through the day.

A Delhi Police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a case was already registered against Joshi at the Special Cell and that he had been brought in for questioning in connection with it. “He was not arrested. He was released after questioning,” the officer said. The officer did not share details about the case.

Joshi is a 1992-batch officer of the Indian Post and Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service. He lives in Moti Bagh and walks in Nehru Park every morning. He had driven there on Wednesday as usual and was walking with friends when the two police personnel approached him and took him away. It emerged later in the day that he had been taken to the Special Cell office in New Friends Colony.

A friend of Joshi’s who had gone to the New Friends Colony police station confirmed his release. “We were standing at one gate, and Joshi was taken out from another gate. We were waiting for him at the gate the whole time,” he said.

His associates said the family was given no notice at any point, and that if an FIR has been registered against Joshi, its contents have not been shared with them either. Joshi’s wife, daughter and several associates spent the day anxious and in the dark about his whereabouts. It was only in the evening that they learned where he was and arrived at the station to pick him up. His family could not be reached for comment.

After reaching home, Joshi posted on X: “Just reached home. The Delhi Special Cell has dropped me home. I will share the rest of the details later.”

Reached for comment, Joshi said several people had come to the house and that he would speak later.