“Hame surag de do ya tum jis pe shakh karte ho uske tange tod do. Baki hum dekh lenge (Give us some clue or you break the legs of the person you suspect. We will take care of the rest).”
This is the response Anil Sahah (32) has been getting from the Powai police whenever he inquires about this three-and-a-half-year old son who is missing since last July.
Sandip was playing outside his home in Powai’s Jai Bhavani Chawl. But when his mother went to bring him home, he was not there.
Anil filed a police complaint, printed posters of his son and fixed them in prime locations. “I have spent so much money that I have lost count. But still I don’t have any clue about my son,” said Anil, a labourer in a polishing factory. In his effort to look for his child, Anil lost his job. “I could not go to work for over two months.”
He was given his job back after he promised not take leave. “I cannot put my four other children in trouble for a missing child.”
“I don’t know what the police are doing,” said Anil. Every time he goes to the police station, the only question they ask him is if he suspects anyone. “I have never had any enemies. How can I name someone?”
{{/usCountry}}“I don’t know what the police are doing,” said Anil. Every time he goes to the police station, the only question they ask him is if he suspects anyone. “I have never had any enemies. How can I name someone?”
{{/usCountry}}“I have really given up looking for Sandip,” he said.
When HT got in touch with Rajdooot Rupwate, senior police inspector at Powai, he said: “Who said we asked the child’s parents for clues?” However, he didn’t say what the police were doing to find Sandip.