Woman found after she went missing from Shirdi in 2017, produced in Bombay HC

Deepti and Manoj. (Courtesy: Manoj Soni)

Three days after a woman reported missing from Shirdi in 2017 was found, the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court was informed that 11 others who went missing from the temple town have also been traced by the Shirdi police.

According to the data earlier placed before the court by the police in October, 279 persons were reported missing from Shirdi between 2017 and October 27, 2020 of whom 67 then remained untraced. In October, the High Court had requested DGP Subodh Jaiswal to examine the matter from a human-trafficking or an organ trafficking angle.

The court was hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by Manoj Soni, a driver from Indore, whose wife Deepti went missing from outside the Sai Baba temple in Shirdi on August 10, 2017. On December 17, Deepti was found in Indore after she ‘returned’ to her sister’s house. On Monday, she was produced before the High Court after undergoing a medical examination in Aurangabad.

Additional public prosecutor K H Patil said, “In her medical examination she was found to be normal both physically and psychologically. The court has asked us (police) to investigate where she was for three years and we may also have to do a narco-analysis test to find out.”

The case has been adjourned for four weeks.

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