Woman reunited with kin after year-and-a-half

Native of U.P. was found wandering at Chennai Central

Joy and relief: Mamta Solanki, who went missing in June 2016, and her brother Chaudhary Man Singh.

Mamta Solanki was found wandering about at Chennai Central railway station on Wednesday by the Government Railway Police. The middle-aged woman looked helpless and couldn’t speak Tamil. When officers approached her, she burst out crying and kept saying Agra. She then gave them a contact number insisting that they call it.

In order to ensure her safety, the officers took her to a Greater Chennai Corporation-run homeless shelter at Tondiarpet. “Initially, we were not able to establish contact. When we dialled the second time, her husband answered. But he didn’t know English,” said Mohammed Rafi, founder, Anbagam Rehabilitation Centre, which runs the shelter. Her husband, Ram Prakash, immediately gave the call to his brother-in-law, Chaudhary Man Singh, who flew down to Chennai to bring his sister back. “She has been missing since June last year. We tried hard to find her, but couldn’t,” said Mr. Chaudhary, a travel agent based in Agra.

However, when he reached the shelter, he couldn’t recognise Mamta at first. She reportedly looked different. But when Mamta called out his name, he recognised her voice and the two of them broke down. “I don’t know what has happened to her face. She has changed,” he said, pointing to the scars around her head and face.

Mr. Chaudhary later took out copies of the complaint they had filed regarding her disappearance at the local police station in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, where they reside. The complaint read that Ms. Mamta, with her relatives, had gone to take a dip in the Ganga. While everyone returned, she went back for a second dip but never returned.

“We feared she had drowned,” he said, wiping his sister’s tears. Mamta was able to speak to her husband and her two young sons, and tearfully kept saying she wanted to go home. The duo left the same day.

Mystery remains

The reason behind Mamta’s disappearance remains a mystery, as she did not talk about it. “We will wait till she speaks on her own accord. But we are very happy she is back and will forever be grateful to the railway police and the officials at the shelter,” said Mr. Chaudhary.