Mumbai: ‘Willing to pay for drone to search for my missing husband’

The Bhandup police have been looking in vain for a 43yearold morning walker who vanished from the service road along the Eastern Express Highway on October 30 Harsh Arora a sales manager at a private bank left home for a walk and was running towards Gandhi Nagar when he disappeared A dedicated team of cops is fanning a stretch of 3 km covered with mangroves to ascertain what happened The two nonoperational cameras on the highway have made the search harderHarsh Arora lives with his wife Reena and 8yearold son at Dreams Complex Bhandup West A fitness enthusiast and regular morning walker he would leave his house daily around 430 am and take a walk of around 45 km returning home around 7 amOn Monday October 30 Arora left his home as usual but didnrsquot return ldquoInitially I thought he had gone running to Thane where his bike was given for servicing I contacted my brotherinlaw and asked him to check if he had gone there but he hadnrsquot Then I got anxious and rushed to the police station with relativesrdquo Reena said adding that the Bhandup police launched a search soon after registration of the missing report filed at 451 pmHarsh AroraAccording to an officer from Bhandup police station Arora was wearing a black sleeveless Tshirt and track pants He was seen getting into the lift at 425 am stretching his arms and leaving the building ldquoFrom there he can be seen walking towards Airoli via Fortis Hospital Mulund He can be seen till the junction at JVLR walking towards Bhandup village on the northbound service road There are no traces of him thereafterrdquo the officer said adding that a dedicated team has been appointed for the search operationldquoIt is so distressing to know that an express highway in Mumbai city doesnrsquot have two CCTV cameras working If the cameras were nonfunctional then what kind of maintenance standards do the authorities haverdquo questioned Kavita Arora Harshrsquos sisterinlaw She further stated that Arora didnrsquot have many valuables on his person and only wore a gold chain a ring and a smartwatch ldquoThe family has every right to know what happenedrdquoMeanwhile cops deployed a sniffer dog on Thursday in a bid to trace Arora However the dog couldnrsquot pick up a scent as a few days have passed since his disappearance The police team even met multiple persons who were along the route between 5 am and 7 am to gather informationldquoWe are trying to track him in every possible way Arora wasnrsquot carrying the mobile phone and so we are relying on human intelligence to know what happened to himrdquo said Dattatray Khandagale senior inspector of Bhandup police stationThe dedicated police team is focused on the 3 km stretch from JVLR Junction to Gandhi Nagar Junction of the service road to obtain clues Officers have fanned the marshy land surrounding the road and a nullah suspecting it to be a hitandrun case ldquoOur men have also checked the bushes nearby to see if there are any signs of someone being dragged in or if there are any bloodstains in the areardquo said an officerArora recently switched to HDFC Bank as an area sales manager He was into fitness and would take long walks The cops have checked hospitals and mortuaries to know whether there are any unclaimed bodies as well Meanwhile the family is insisting on the use of drones to know if he was harmed and dumped in the marshy land near Bhandup village The police will also use drones to check swamp landsldquoWe are trying our level best and exploring every option to track him We have not ruled out any possibilityrdquo said Purushottam Karad DCP Zone 7