The Mumbai Police are trying to locate the relatives of Mohammad Jimmy Shaikh, the 75-year-old man living as a recluse in Thane Mental Asylum for 51 years now.

Jimmy says little—his speech is slurred—and can’t remember where he lived before he was incarcerated in the asylum. No relative or friend has ever visited him. And he was forgotten for so long that when the authorities remembered him, they realised that even the records linked to him had been lost.

Last month, after a report in The Indian Express, Joint Commissioner of Police, Law and Order, K L Prasad issued a look-out notice, which states that the “Mumbai Police needs the information of relatives of the following mentioned detainee person”—Jimmy...

Jimmy was held on January 9, 1956, in south Mumbai on the orders of the then Bombay police commissioner because the police found him wandering on the road, his speech incoherent. He ended up in the asylum, where, soon after, he was diagnosed as a schizophrenic.

The search for his relatives began after the authorities realised that Jimmy—who “is an excellent gardener”—may not have much time left, given his poor health and age. The mental asylum authorities contacted the police but couldn’t find the case papers—which could yield an address.

“The look-out notice for his relatives has been sent to all the police stations alongwith the police control room numbers hoping that some relative or family member might recognise Mohammad Jimmy Shaikh as he is now. We are making our best efforts to trace his relatives,” says Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Rakesh Maria.

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