13 April,2021 05:59 AM IST | Mumbai | Hemal Ashar
Dipankar with his mother
April 13 marks two months since senior citizen Uma Sarkar, 70, last walked out of her Thane home; she has been missing ever since. Sarkar, who is suffering from dementia and schizophrenia never, as a rule, left her home alone at Sainath Co-Operative Housing Society on Godhbunder Road.
Bhaskar with his mother
Her son, Dipankar, 38, said, "My brother Bhaskar, 40, and I never let our mother move out of our home unaccompanied as she is mentally ill. I used to lock our home from the inside. It has a safety catch and makes a loud sound when somebody opens it, so we were alert if my mother ever tried to go out. I also have three dogs at home who would bark if somebody entered or went out." That evening, Dipankar was inside the bedroom, taking an online class and he had earphones on that drowned out any sound.
Dipankar is looking for employment having lost his job in the pandemic, while his brother works as a cashier and was away. Both men live with their mother at home. Dipankar said, "My mother unlocked the bolt, and the dogs followed her outside, but a neighbour told me that she shooed the dogs back in the house. She left home after bolting the door from the outside."
It took Dipankar a while to emerge from the bedroom, "the dogs were sitting in the room by then," and realised that his mother was gone. He called for a neighbour to unlock the door and realised that his mother was nowhere to be seen.
"Through rising panic, we thought she may have gone to the paanwallah close by as she was fond of eating paan. Yet he, too, had not seen her." They did check surveillance of a nearby building which show her standing near it, but after that, there has been no sign of her."
The Sarkar brothers have filed a police complaint at Kasarvadavli police station. They have also put up missing posters at Thane and Mulund stations. "We have scoured for any sign of her at hospitals, outside jumbo COVID centres, but in vain," they said in despair.
In the third week of February, the brothers who have posted details about their missing mother on social media and WhatsApp groups got a call from a friend saying he got a message from somebody saying their mother was seen at Kherwadi police station in Kalanagar, Bandra East ." Dipankar added, "I rushed to the police station, but the officers told us that she was here a couple of days ago but had slipped out and disappeared. They claimed there was no CCTV footage but did tell me that she said my late father's name was so and so, which was correct and talked about our childhood home. These details my mum would repeatedly talk about and only she knew. I asked them how they could let her go from the police station as they must have known she is a missing person or unwell. I do not understand how she can simply walk out of a police station after being âfound'." A flustered Dipankar added that the Mumbai police are one of the best in the world, but this has simply shocked and baffled him.
An officer at the police station did not answer questions related to whether she was found. He said, "I will revert in some time." Another officer claimed, "The investigation is on, we are looking and all are efforts are focused on finding Uma Sarkar, we will not let up."
The brothers, meanwhile, are clinging on to hope that their mother will be spotted by someone, somewhere. "We are weary, but we have not given up. The search has been challenging and COVID restrictions are also affecting our mobility. We are living on hope and a prayer that our family becomes a unit of three again," they finished emotionally.
