MBBS student missing case: Lifeguard undergoes narco-analysis test

More than nine months after MBBS student Sadichha Sane went missing from Bandstand in Bandra, police have conducted a narco-analysis test on the sole suspect, a lifeguard, who was last seen with the girl

More than nine months after MBBS student Sadichha Sane went missing from Bandstand in Bandra, police have conducted a narco-analysis test on the sole suspect, a lifeguard, who was last seen with the girl.

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Crime branch officials said the test was carried out at Nagpada police hospital by a team of specialists comprising an anesthesiologist, a psychiatrist, a clinical and forensic psychologist from Kalina forensic science laboratory, and an audio-videographer. A report is expected next week.

“We had applied for the court permission in April. However, the lifeguard, Mittu Singh, remained absent because of which the court order was issued only in the last week of June,” a police officer said.

Even then, the police had to wait as the narco-analysis machine at the hospital was out of order. “But the time it was repaired, the doctor in charge of the test had retired. We had to further wait till a new doctor was brought on board,” the officer added.

“CCTV cameras captured Sane heading towards the seashore opposite Taj Lands’ End hotel at 12.30 am,” a police officer, who is part of the investigation, had said.

The lifeguard on duty, Singh, spotted her and suspecting that she might attempt suicide, followed her.

“Noticing that I was following her, Sane told me that she was not there to end her life. We then started chatting and sat on a rock till 3.30 am. During this period, I clicked four selfies with her in my mobile phone while Sane took one selfie in her phone with me,” 30-year-old Singh had said in his statement to the police.

The police have even found CCTV footage of the cell phone screen blinking, indicating that selfies were clicked, as well as one single beam of light, presumably from a cell phone torch, moving away from Bandstand around 3 am. However, due to insufficient lighting, it is not clear as to who it was.

“As a lifeguard, Singh had phone numbers of scores of policemen saved in his phone but he did not come forward to give a statement when the news of Sane’s disappearance broke. It was only after we zeroed in on him that he admitted he was with her and was the last person to interact with her,” the officer had said.

A case was registered at the Bandra police station and later transferred to unit 9 of the crime branch.