The few days have stretched to nearly nine months. And now Hasib is heartbroken that he doesn’t even have a photograph of his nephew. It never struck him to get one taken.

—Sudarshan Bopatragohain

From Ghaziabad to Noida, the search is on

Is the distance between Ghaziabad and Noida’s Sector 31 too much for a killer to bridge? That’s what Wasim’s parents would like to know. Searching for their 12-year-old son who went missing from Ghaziabad on May 19, 2004, has yielded no result.

‘‘We have come this far in the hope of finding a clue that will lead us to our son. Will we ever find him? My son had come to Ghaziabad from Muzaffarnagar, where he studied. From there, something happened,’’ says Wasim’s father.

‘‘I am a mechanic and have spent so much money and time on finding my son. I might not be a powerful person but I would like to know what the police has done for so long.’’

I was even threatened

NAND Lal’s 26-year-old daughter Payal has been missing since May 7, 2006. The police claims to have nailed the accused by tracing her cellphone to House No. D-5.

According to the police, Payal was a call girl Moninder had a soft spot for. Nand Lal, though, has a different story. ‘‘When I first went to lodge a missing person’s complaint, I was mocked at and threatened,’’ he says. Now, Nand Lal has become the showpiece for the police, with the Chief Minister saying it was the ‘‘prompt action’’ of the police and the Payal link that cracked the case.

... contd.