If Arvind Ranade's friends could figure it out in three days, why haven't the Valiv police been able to solve his kidnapping case in nearly a year? Yesterday, mid-day highlighted how 58-year-old Ranade's friends had immediately suspected Pintoo Sharma, but thanks to the police's failure to gather evidence, he had got out on bail.

Now, Ranade's cousin has written to the state police chief, seeking a transfer of the case to the Local Crime Branch, blaming the Valiv police's "lethargic atttitude". Yesterday, this paper had detailed how Arvind Ranade's friends realised that he had last been seen with accused Pintoo Sharma on the day he went missing: February 21, 2018. They watched 40 hours of CCTV footage and pieced together how Sharma had taken Ranade to his rented flat in Naigaon, from where the victim never made it out.