Five-year-old missing girl traced within 36 hours: Mumbai police

One of the difficulties faced by police was that the family had only an old photograph of the girl, from the time when she was a toddler.

The girl was found at a children’s home in Matunga, from where she was reunited with her family. (Express photo)

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A five-year-old girl who had gone missing after she went out with her mother suffering from mental health issues was tracked down by the Mumbai crime branch within 36 hours.

The girl was found at a children’s home in Matunga, from where she was reunited with her family. Her father is in Rajkot, Gujarat, for cancer treatment.

An officer said the woman left her brother’s Chembur home with her daughter early in the morning. Only on reaching the house, where she and her daughter live, did the woman realise the girl had been missing.

She and her family members started looking for the girl but could not find her. They approached the Mankhurd police station, where an FIR was registered.

Along with local police, the crime branch (unit VI) also began investigations. One of the difficulties faced by police was that the family had only an old photograph of the girl, from the time when she was a toddler.

Unit VI in-charge Ravindra Salunkhe said that API Archana Kudle checked with childcare institutions and found out that a girl had been admitted to one such home the previous day.

Kudle found the girl and made a video call to her mother and the woman’s brother, who identified the five-year-old as the one who had gone missing. The girl was reunited with her family on Wednesday.

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Salunkhe said that someone might have alerted the children’s home after finding the girl loitering around the area. The investigation was overseen by crime branch DCP Raj Tilak Roushan.

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