NRI who went missing from Mumbai airport traced within 12 days thanks to 2 alert citizens

Around 7,000 handbills and posters carrying the missing person's picture and other information were printed and circulated in the city

A 69-year-old Non-Resident Indian, who went missing from the Mumbai international airport, has been traced to a suburb and reunited with his daughter after 12 days with the help of two alert citizens, police said on Monday.

The NRI, Dharmalingam Pillai, who has been suffering from memory loss and lives in South Africa, went missing on January 30, a few hours before he and his daughter were scheduled to take a flight from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here to Durban, they said.

Pillai, who is a retired clerk, and his daughter, working in a senior position in the field of logistics, had come to India to visit their roots on the occasion of his birthday. An official said that Pillai's grandfather had moved to South Africa and since then the family was settled in Durban. A missing person's report was registered at Sahar police station on January 31, following which around 7,000 handbills and posters carrying Pillai's picture and other information were printed and circulated in the city with the help of his daughter and the office of the South African Consulate General in Mumbai.

The city police also shared information about Pillai on social media platforms. A number of police teams were formed for a probe into the case and they examined the CCTV footage at various locations to search for Pillai, the official said.

On Sunday, two citizens, who were aware of the missing NRI through social media and news articles, spotted Pillai wandering on 14th Road in suburban Khar. They enquired with him and then informed the police control room, he said. A team was rushed there and the information was also shared with Pillai's daughter.

Pillai was then brought to the Sahar police station and reunited with his daughter on Sunday evening, the official said. "It was an emotional moment for everyone. The Mumbaikars' awareness helped in tracing Pillai and this is an example of the police and citizens working together," the official said, adding that it was a challenging task to search for a person with memory loss issue, amid the huge city population. Teams comprising senior police inspector Sanjay Gowilkar and sub-inspectors Sushant Bavachkar and Sunil Vagre were charged with tracing the NRI.