Twelve days after an elderly and ailing foreigner from South Africa, Dhramalingum Pillay (Dan), went missing from the international airport, the Mumbai police formed a special team to trace his whereabouts, on Saturday. The 69-year-old vanished from the Mumbai International Airport on January 30 and is yet to be found. According to police, he was seen by some people at Marol Junction and a vegetable vendor had also noticed him travelling in a train at Kurla going towards CST. It was the Durban-based man’s first visit to India along with his daughter Rebecca Pillay.

Owing to a delay in their flight back home, the two were waiting at the Mumbai airport when Dan unexpectedly walked out of the premises. Rebecca had fallen asleep at the time and tried her best to look for her missing father. Dan suffers from memory loss and hypertension. The father-daughter duo had come to India on January 21 and visited Chennai and Bengaluru before coming to Mumbai. 

A missing person’s report was filed by the Sahar police on Rebecca’s complaint and the search commences. But to no avail till now. Speaking with mid-day DCP zone 8, Dikshit Gedam, said, “We have formed a special team that is working on this case to trace him. We are looking through footage from CCTV cameras. His photo has also been circulated across the city. He will be traced very soon.” 

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It is also being investigated as to how Dan was able to cross security checks at the international airport, from where it is otherwise difficult to exit. On the condition of anonymity, CISF officials told mid-day that, “Pillay had signed up for ‘Self Offload’ as per our records. If any passenger wants to go out of the airport and ditch their flights, they can ‘Self Offload’ and not embark on the air journey.”

“My father doesn’t have anything on him. I am worried about his health and have been searching for him day and night. I will not go back to my country till I get him back,” Rebecca said. A friend of the family, Naveen K added, “We have looked around for him at CST, Mankhurd, Ghatkopar, Sakinaka, Marol and many other places. But have got no clue yet.”

30
January is when he went missing from the airport

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