19 July,2019 08:04 AM IST | | Anurag Kamble
Prakash Vagle
Nine months after Prakash Wagle, 69, went missing from Dadar, the cops still have no update on his whereabouts. The family has now launched its own search after waiting 236 days for the cops to search him. The family has begun contacting NGOs across states with his 68-year-old wife Rashmi trying every trick to find her partner suffering from dementia.
The couple, residents of Gokhale Road, Dadar West, on October 27, 2018 had stepped out for a walk together. While crossing the road near Raja Badhe Chowk, Rashmi didn't realise that Prakash hadn't followed her.
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She immediately contacted her relatives and they rushed to the police station. CCTV footages last showed Prakash near Khar Railway station on November 1. He is, however, untraceable beyond that. The family has pasted more than 1,000 pamphlets across city declaring Wagle as missing.
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"We visited every hospital, elderly homes and even mortuaries in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane. The Shivaji Park cops assisted us but our attempts bore no fruit," said Rashmi Wagle, adding, "We even took help from an astrologist who told us that he may have gone to the Vasai-Virar area. We searched there too."
In March, the family received information from a tea-stall owner that a person looking like Wagle was seen in the area. "We rushed there but didn't succeed," said Rashmi.
The family finally reached out to NGOs and shelter homes for elderly persons. "After contacting all such NGOs in Maharashtra, we are contacting some in Gujarat and Rajasthan," a family friend informed, adding, "We are doing the best we can."
Suryakant Gaikwad, senior inspector of Shivaji Park police station, remained unavailable for comment.
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Wagle is a retired professor from Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), and owner of the once-famous Dattatray eatery in Dadar. Situated close to Shiv Sena Bhavan, the business shut shop in 2013.
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