We did our best to find their girl, says Nehru Nagar police cops

What is at the root of Tuesdays violence in Chembur A family that has lost two people in seven months mdash a daughter missing since April and a father who killed himself in grief mdash alleges it is all down to police negligence in tracing the missing 17yearoldPancharam Rithadias daughter was last seen leaving her home on March 30 when she went to a public toilet Pancharam rushed to the Nehru Nagar police station who initially took it as a missing person complaint as the family apparently told them the daughter was above 18In such cases unless the missing person makes a call to relatives and friends there is no way to trace them said an officer who is part of the probe In this case too we tried our best to find the accused All the friends related to the missing person were interrogated and all the inputs provided by the family were verifiedThe police said the girl used Facebook and WhatsApp on her fathers phone and that they questioned all her friends besides checking CCTV footage We found footage where the girl can be seen walking alone near a Hanuman Temple That was her last known location said the officerPolice said the family went to its hometown and returned with a birth certificate which put the girls age at 17 The police claim they turned the missing persons complaint into that of kidnapping as per SC guidelines on April 25But the Rithadias alleged that the police did not register an FIR as early as they could have The family named Bhagchand Fulwariya 23 who they said was in touch with their daughter as being responsible for her disappearanceThe Nehru Nagar police said they called Fulwariya and his family for questioning but found no substance in the allegation The police said they went through Bhagchands cell phone tower locations adding that he never left the vicinity of his home on the day of the girls disappearance or since We also searched their home but found nothing said the officer Bhagchand was also produced before senior police officials and since nothing concrete came out from the probe we had to let him goAnother senior officer said the police never slacked as alleged by the family Whenever the family approached us with any input we dispatched a team to verify the details Since nothing concrete came of the investigations the case remains unsolvedDCP Zone 6 Shashi Kumar Meena defended the Nehru Nagar police saying their investigation has been thorough Our investigation has been indepth since the day the incident was reported said Meena There has been no delay or negligence on our part We are still looking for the girlAnother senior officer too said the police are not at fault We have given our best but unfortunately we couldnt till now But there is no negligence This official also said the trail went cold after Bhaghchand was clearedThe person accused by the family was called for questioning more than 10 times He was even interrogated in front of the girls family He made himself available whenever the investigators called him There is no direct or circumstantial evidence to arrest him The family named another female they suspected We questioned her also thoroughly but found nothing warranting an action the highranking IPS officer told middayCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates