E-Paper
5-year-old reunited with family after mentally disabled mother leaves her unknowingly
The girl’s mother, who had learning difficulties, went out with her daughter for a walk on June 2, a police officer said, adding, “She, however, returned alone and the child was not to be found anywhere after that.”
Mumbai: A five-year-old girl, who was missing for around three to four days, was traced to a childcare home in Matunga using CCTV footage and was reunited with her family on Wednesday.
The girl’s mother, who had learning difficulties, went out with her daughter for a walk on June 2, a police officer said, adding, “She, however, returned alone and the child was not to be found anywhere after that.”
According to the police, the mother-daughter duo lived at the woman’s brother’s house in Chembur, while her husband is a cancer patient and is undergoing treatment in Rajkot, Gujarat.
“On June 2, the woman and her daughter left their house, however, on June 4, the woman returned alone. The family then asked about the daughter and then she realised that the infant was missing. They searched the entire vicinity, but when they did not find the girl, they approached the Mankhurd Police Station and registered a case in the evening on June 5,” said the officer.
As the girl was a minor, a kidnapping case was registered against unknown persons and Unit 6 of the crime branch also started a parallel investigation. “The mother could not provide any reliable information because of her mental condition as to where she went along with her daughter. She had old photographs of the girl when she was just two or three years old,” said the police officer.
“We started searching at the railway station suspecting that someone might have kidnapped her and could be planning to leave the city. One team was stationed to scan CCTV cameras of the vicinity,” said police inspector Ravindra Salunkhe of unit 6.
While checking CCTV footage of childcare institutions, the cops found out that a girl of a similar age was admitted to Matunga childcare home. “Her identity was verified and police then made a video call to her mother where her brother and other family members identified the girl. She was then handed over to her family,” said Salunkhe.
