Mumbai: Cops have stopped looking for our missing girl, says kin

Pancharam Rithadia committed suicide on Oct 13 after his 7-month-long search for his missing daughter bore no fruit

The Nehru Nagar police, who were investigating a missing person's complaint filed in April, have allegedly made no progress in the case even a month after Pancharam Rithadia took his life accusing the cops of not making any effort to find his 17-year-old daughter.

Rithadia, a Chembur resident, whose daughter went missing in March this year, jumped in front of a running train near Tilak Nagar station on October 13. He had left a suicide note alleging that the Nehru Nagar police did not listen to his grievances, and also listed the names of five people allegedly linked to his daughter's disappearance.

Though the police arrested the five people named in the note, they have not taken any concrete action in the case, alleged the relatives. "The cops were so active when Pancharam had committed suicide, but now everything has stopped. I don't know what is happening now. Cops have stopped searching for the girl," said a relative on condition of anonymity.

They alleged that the Nehru Nagar police have also stopped pursuing the case involving violence during Rithadia's funeral procession on October 22. An angry mob had beaten up seven policemen at Umarashi Bappa Chowk. The police arrested 53 people and had even indicated that a politician was behind the attack.

A month on, the cops have still not nabbed the perpetrators of the violence. "We also don't know what happened after the arrest of five people named in Rithadia's suicide note," said the relative. "Cops had claimed that they have got clues about the culprits behind the attack during the funeral procession, but it seems now that they have stopped pursuing the case," said another relative.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, zone 6, was unavailable for comment.

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