Air India staffer still missing, case shifted to Crime Branch

Almost two months after Delhi Police failed to locate a missing Air India woman employee, the case has been handed over to the Crime Branch.

Sulakshna Narula, 57, went missing from outside her Pandara Road house in the heart of Delhi on September 30, leaving her family in distress.

The Crime Branch took over the case on November 22 following Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik's intervention.

"My mother went missing from outside our house around 6 p.m. on September 30. We lodged a missing complaint on October 1 and a case of abduction on October 4. But Delhi Police is still clueless," the woman's son Anubhav Narula told IANS.

"After our continuous pressure, the case was transferred to Crime Branch last Thursday and their team met us the very next day," Anubhav Narula said.

The distraught son expressed the hope that the Crime Branch might be able to trace his mother.

A day after Sulakshna went missing, a complaint was filed by the family at Tilak Marg police station. On October 4, an FIR was filed suspecting abduction.

The family also contacted all relatives, put up posters on auto-rickshaws and even created a Facebook page in a desperate bid to locate her.

Abhinav Narula suspects that his mother may have been locked up at some Ashram as she was a religious person and was facing acute depression since 2007 as her promotion was denied to her even as a junior was made her boss.

She was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder -- an illness related to mood swings ranging from depressive lows to manic highs -- on July 24.

"She was taking pills to cope with the depression. Because of her problem, we were not letting her go out of the house alone for a few months. The last time she visited her office was the first week of September. On the day she went missing, she left the house without her phone, money and medicines.

"I was to take her to Yamuna Ghat. We stepped down the stairs. As I forgot something, I told her to wait for a moment and went up. When I came back, she was missing. It all happened within minutes. I don't know where she went. We tried to search her everywhere," said Abhinav Narula.

Sulakshna, a mother of three sons, had been working in Air India as a manager.

Her husband S.K. Narula said she had been fighting for her promotion since 2007 when one of the board directors blocked her promotion.

"After a new board member was named, she again sought justice. She was promoted but with certain riders. However, some employees made sure that the promotion orders were not issued to her.

"But her juniors were granted promotion... This humiliation and stress of working under her juniors hit her hard and she became depressed," the husband told IANS.

Asked about the slow pace of investigation, a Crime Branch official told IANS on the condition of anonymity that they would do their best to try and locate the missing woman.

--IANS

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