Diva residents and the Thane police have not made any headway in tracing Sonal Awhad, a missing 14-year-old differently-abled girl, for the last ten days despite possessing CCTV footage of her.
A neighbour of the girl’s was arrested after he had allegedly taken her with him to eat a snack. He left her near Diva railway station, where she went missing. The family of the girl are worried about her well being.
Nirmala Awhad, Sonal’s mother, said, “I was not at home when my girl went missing. Our neighbour used to take the children out for snacks sometimes, but he always used to ask Sonal’s elder brother or me first. On March 27 our neighbour didn’t even ask us before taking my girl with him to eat chaat. Sonal was alone when she went out with him. When I came back home at around 8 pm, I found that she was not around. On the same day, my husband and son went to a relative’s home for a function and our neighbour knew this.”
She added, “When we realised Sonal was missing, we approached the Mumbra police. But, police officials asked us to provide them CCTV footage of the nearby area. My husband and I then collected this footage of a nearby society and handed it over to police. In the footage it was clear that our neighbour had taken her out and left her near the railway station area. The police then arrested the man, but he didn’t reveal why he took her out and left her alone afterwards.”
DCP Sachin Patil said, “We have gone through footage and visited remand homes but we haven’t found the girl yet. We are investigating the background of the man to get ideas.” Sonal’s parents have been urging the police to show urgency. They have claimed that that the case’s IO went on leave for a few days after the case was registered.
