'Cops can find terrorists in 48 hours, but not my son'

His parents, Vinod and Asha

It has been more than three months since autistic teen Tarun Gupta went missing from his home in Colaba, but there is still no trace of him. With the Mumbai police reaching almost a dead end in the investigation, Tarun's father, Vinod Gupta has lost all hope. Referring to the recent arrest of Jalish Ansari, an accused in the 1993 serial blasts, Gupta said, "If the police can find a terrorist within 48 hours, then why can't they trace my son? The cops are just saying that he has gone to a different state."

When contacted, deputy commissioner of police (zone 1), Sangramsinh Nishandar, said, "We will revive the efforts to trace the boy." Gupta has also alleged that the police was no longer investigating the case wholeheartedly.'

Gupta's 17-year-old autistic son Tarun went missing on October 1. Recently, the Mumbai police formed a special team to look for his son but they haven't been able to trace him yet.

According to Gupta, On October 1 Tarun was playing outside his house when he heard the procession music of a political rally and started walking and dancing with them.

His parents immediately started looking for him and based on a tip off, they got to know that Tarun was spotted at an RPF chowky at Panvel railway station. On reaching the spot they got to know that as Tarun kept asking for water at the RPF station, instead of reporting the matter to the GRP or local police, out of irritation one of the constables made him board an outstation train's cargo compartment.

The train went up to Sawantwadi, where Tarun was captured in one of the railway station CCTV cameras. His last known location was a Dadar-bound Janshatabdi Express, which he boarded from Sawantwadi on October 3.

Information gathered from passengers in the D-10 coach that Tarun boarded revealed that he was in the train till after it crossed wThane. However, after that, the trail went cold with no sign of the 16-year-old.

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