The CBI, which had been probing the case on directions of the Delhi High Court, took custody of the woman (30) on Monday.
A woman who had mysteriously disappeared five years ago in New Delhi after leaving her home to attend a sewing class, has been found living in a government-run shelter home in Bareilly. The CBI, which had been probing the case on directions of the Delhi High Court, took custody of the woman (30) on Monday. “The investigating officer will produce her before the high court on Tuesday. The agency had announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for credible information about her,” said CBI spokesperson RK Gaur.
Superintendent of the shelter home, Durgesh Johri, told The Indian Express, “She has been staying at the shelter home since November 5, 2015, after being referred by the Meerut district administration. Around two months ago, she revealed details about her family and their address during a counselling session with an NGO worker. The NGO contacted Delhi Police, who passed the information to her parents in Tughlakabad.”
“She was undergoing treatment at a Mansik Chikitsalaya (mental hospital) in Bareilly. After obtaining permission from the Bareilly district administration and getting a medical examination, we handed over her custody to CBI officials who visited the centre,” she added. Johri said that the woman’s father, who is a railway employee, had told them that his daughter had gone missing on May 23, 2012, after she had gone to attend a sewing class near her house. When she did not return home, he went to the sewing centre, where the in-charge told him his daughter had indulged in a scuffle in class, following which police had taken her away.
The father allegedly contacted the local police, but they failed to give him any information. He then met senior police officials, who got a case registered at the Pul Prahaladpur police station in New Delhi under section 365 IPC (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person).
With still no leads as to where she could be, the woman’s father then moved the Delhi High Court and sought a CBI investigation into the case. On February 26, 2014, the high court directed the CBI to probe the matter.
A statement issued by the agency said that during investigation, strenuous efforts were made to trace the missing woman at various locations in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and nearby areas. Officials did not provide details about the woman’s whereabouts before she started living at the shelter home, or why she did not return home for five years. Her father could not be reached for comment.
