Thane police reunite woman with her siblings 24 years after she went missing

Thane: The Thane city police have reunited a woman with her siblings 24 years after she was separated from her family. The police's child protection unit traced the family within six hours and connected them on a video call.

Bharati Ashru Kadam went missing in 2002 as a child while visiting her maternal uncle in Navi Mumbai. The Belapur police found her, but her family could not be traced and she was placed in a children's home. After her marriage she became Janhavi Zambare, and she now lives in Solapur. She had been searching for her family for eight years, while her brother Vijay Kadam had also kept looking for her.

On October 8 she contacted the Thane city police's child protection unit. Officers went through old records, checked with the Navi Mumbai police and the missing persons cell at Belapur, and then searched district-wise voter lists. An entry linked to her brother's name turned up in the 2002 voter list, and booth-level officers helped locate the family. The full name tattooed on her arm helped confirm her identity.

The police reached her brothers Prakash and Vijay and her sister Shalini, and the siblings are now set to meet in person. The search was carried out by the child protection unit under the guidance of police commissioner Ashutosh Dumbre.

Source: Loksatta