9 bodies identified, 19 missing persons’ cases solved in 2 days

COPS SAY Kin of missing, kidnapped, killed people help city police crack cases

NAVI MUMBAI: The photo exhibition held at the Navi Mumbai police commissioner’s office on April 28 and 29 helped the police crack 28 cases in a span of two days, the police said.

These include identification of nine cases of bodies of unidentified people who died in accidents in the past couple of months and 19 cases of missing people.

The Navi Mumbai police had organised an exhibition showcasing around 15,000 photographs of people who went missing between 2012 and March 2015.

T hese pictures were of people from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane (city and rural) as well as far- flung areas of Raigad, Ratnagiri and Pune ( city and rural).

The Mumbai railway police had also put up photographs of those who went missing as well as unidentified people who died in accidents.

The families of people, who went missing or were kidnapped, were invited to check the photographs.

The city police hoped this first-of-its-kind initiative would help its crack some cases.

“Members of nine families had identified photographs from the deceased’s section and claimed those to be of their family members who had gone missing,” said Pushpalata Dighe, police inspector of Navi Mumbai’s anti-human trafficking cell.

“We immediately marked those bodies as identified in our systems,” added Dighe.

“In some cases, people, who went missing from Mumbai or Thane, had either returned or were traced by their families. But the police were not aware of it and so, those photos were placed in the undetected cases category of police records,” said Dighe.

“A t the photo exhibi- tion, some people pointed at some pictures in the missing section and informed us that the person has been traced,” Dighe said.

“We then called those families and verified the claims. Thus, 19 missing persons’ cases were solved in just two days,” she added.

Suresh Mengde, deputy commissioner of police ( crime branch), said, “Even as we organised it for the first time, the exhibition was a great success. We are happy with the results we have got over the two days.”