Boy missing at Sakinaka

MUMBAI, Nov 18: Even as the police tries to grapple with the mysterious circumstances under which three schoolgirls from Sion disappeared r...

MUMBAI, Nov 18: Even as the police tries to grapple with the mysterious circumstances under which three schoolgirls from Sion disappeared recently, a 13-year-old boy has now gone missing from Sakinaka, Andheri on Saturday. The difference in the two cases is that while the girls were eventually located, there doesn8217;t seem to be any trace of the boy from Sakinaka yet.

Sridhar Yadav is a student of Standard VII at St Jude8217;s High School, at Andheri-Kurla Road, and resides with his uncle, Ramdular Yadav 40 in Sakinaka.

On Saturday at 10:30 am, he left home to collect his report card from school, and since then has not returned home. Yadav has lodged a complaint at the Sakinaka police station. Sridhar8217;s father, Ramkumar K Yadav 35, a trolly driver, is still unaware about this incident, as he has been away from the city for a week. Yadav said the boy made a phone call home on Saturday afternoon to inform that he was abducted by two unidentified persons who forcibly drove him in a taxi to a remote place. 8220;We tried to get some clue about the remote destination, but the telephone got disconnected,quot; says Yadav. He fears the hand of either a child lifting gang or people who might bear personal animosity against him, at play. He however declined to disclose the name of any suspected person, as it might hurt his nephew. A neighbour, requesting anonymity revealed that Yadav had an altercation with a local Shiv Sena leader sometime back, and this could be his handiwork.

The principal of St Jude8217;s High School, Father Blaise D8217;mello, said that he has alerted the DCP Zone IX, M H Gavit, about the incident, asking him to find the trace the boy as soon as possible. 8220;But no breakthrough has been achieved so far,8221; he said. He added that Saturday was an Open day8217;, when students were to be accompanied by their guardians to check their progress.

quot;Unfortunately, Sridhar was on his own that day,quot; said D8217;mello. 8220;We have our own securitymen in the school but if the child disappears beyond the school premises, we can8217;t help.8221; He informs that six months ago another child from his school was lost but came back after a couple of days.

The deputy police commissioner Zone IV, A Dongre, ruled out the possibility of the involvement of any organised child lifter. 8220;These cases are not connected with each other. The three girls at Sion, who were reported missing last week have already been found. The case of Sridhar is yet to be ascertained, and we can8217;t say anything about this yet,8221; he said.