Tracing the mobile phone of the doctor, who arrived in the city a week ago, leads cops to an auto driver who told them the doctor had given him his handset in place of fare as he had forgotten his wallet at his hotel
A Mauritius-based doctor, who had come to Mumbai about a week ago, has been reported missing under peculiar circumstances. When his mobile phone was traced by the police, it was found with an auto rickshaw driver, who said the doctor had given his handset to him four days ago, as he did not have the money to pay him the auto fare.
Vivekanand Kunj (55) is prone to frequent memory lapses, his wife told the Andheri police
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According to the Andheri police, the doctor, identified as Vivekanand Kunj (55), hailed an auto from near Santacruz airport four days ago. After sitting in the auto he told the driver he had forgotten the name of the hotel he was staying at. Asking the driver to keep driving around the area the hotel was in, the doctor said he would recognise it on seeing it.
After driving Kunj around for a while, the driver told him to approach the police station for assistance. The doctor agreed, but realised he had forgotten his wallet in his hotel room, the auto driver said. So he bartered his cell phone with the driver for the fare money. He did remove his SIM card and kept it with him before handing over the handset.
The driver kept the phone and dropped him in front of Andheri police station. A day later, one of the doctor’s family members came to Mumbai from Gwalior looking for him since he had been unreachable. “The family contacted the Delhi consulate, but got no response about his whereabouts,” said a police officer.
On Sunday, the family member filed a missing complaint with the police. “It was when we traced the doctor’s phone with the help of the IMEI number that we found the auto driver using the phone with another SIM card,” said the officer. Upon being questioned, the driver told the police that he had left after dropping the doctor at the police station and begun using the phone.
The baffled officers are now trying to trace the doctor. Said another officer, “His family told us the doctor had been staying at the Nirmal Hotel in Andheri (E) from where we have recovered his passport. We also visited Shirdi because his wife told us that he had work at the Shirdi trust. His wife also said that he had frequent lapses of memory.” “We are contacting all the hotels in the city to find out whether a doctor from Mauritius has been staying with them,” said the officer.
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