A 66-year-old Bengaluru woman went missing on Friday evening and her family and the police have been actively looking for her since. Her family has sought help since Uma lives with a cognitive disability.
Uma, the 66-year-old woman, was going to visit the hospital near her house in Sanjaynagar along with her brother Neelakantan (76) on Friday evening. Neelakantan had asked Uma to walk ahead to the hospital and he would be right behind her. However, by the time Neelakantan reached the hospital, which was a five-minute walk from their home, Uma was nowhere to be found.
Neelakantan immediately informed his daughter-in-law Janaki (40) and her husband Mani (45), both techies, who organized a search party for Uma.
Mani, his sister Deepa and Janaki began looking for her near the hospital. “We were only looking for her near the hospital and surrounding areas. She has been living with a cognitive disability since childhood. She would never cross the road by herself so we were only looking for her on one side of the road,” Janaki says.
Neelakantan, meanwhile, filed a missing persons complaint with the Sanjaynagar Police on Saturday morning. Simultaneously, Mani managed to obtain CCTV footage from a shop near the Sanjaynagar signal, where he could see Uma crossing the road that leads towards Geddalahalli.
Mani, Janaki and Deepa followed her trail and began looking for her in Geddalahalli. “We began showing street vendors her picture and they told us that they had seen her. We kept searching for her and finally, we approached a bhel puri vendor. He told us that he had seen her and she seemed lost. He asked her where she was going and she told him that her brother was following her as she was walking back home. He told us that she then walked away,” Janaki adds.
Uma’s relatives also obtained CCTV footage from a jewellery store, which showed Uma heading towards Mekhri circle. When they got footage from the Bengaluru Traffic Police from the cameras near Bellary Road, they found that Uma was headed back towards Geddalahalli on Saturday evening.
“That’s the last we saw of her. We don’t know where she is anymore. We really need to find her. She requires special care because of her mental health issues and she is old,” Janaki said.
The Sanjaynagar Police have issued a lookout notice and are currently combing through CCTV footage from various bus stops, junctions and private CCTV cameras in the area. The police are also making regular announcements on All India Radio.
If you have seen Uma or if you have any information about her, you can contact Deepa on +91 99022 89839.