More than 700 missing persons traced between May 7 and 21 under Gujarat police's Op Milap

Gujarat police has traced 701 missing persons between May 7 and May 21 under 'Operation Milap' and reunited them with their families, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi said on Thursday.

The special drive to trace missing persons has been launched under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and all necessary resources have been made available to the police for this purpose, an official release quoted Sanghavi as saying.

''Police stations across the state traced a total of 701 people between May 7 and May 21 and reunited them with their families. Under Operation Milap, police teams are revisiting forgotten files, tracking digital footprints, analysing old evidence and reaching out once again to families that had spent years searching for answers,'' the release said.

The special operation, launched in the first week of May, directed every police commissioner and district superintendent of police in the state to reopen, review and aggressively pursue long-pending missing person cases, the release said.

''A total of 24,767 people have been reported missing across the state since 2007. This is a targeted operation backed by data, technical intelligence and human intelligence with clear guidelines. We are getting success in tracing people who had gone missing even many years ago,'' said Additional Director General of Police (CID Crime and Railways) Ajay Choudhary.

The operation goes beyond merely locating missing persons as investigators are also trying to expose trafficking syndicates, runaway networks and criminal gangs allegedly involved in child trafficking and baby-selling rackets, as per police.

One of the most striking cases solved during the operation involved a woman who had been missing for nearly 10 years, the release said.

''A 23-year-old married woman from Padra taluka in Vadodara district had disappeared in 2016 along with her five-year-old son. Her husband had informed police she left for her maternal home but never returned. Under Operation Milap, police again contacted family members. Her husband revealed he had recently seen his wife on social media,'' it said.

Scanning of social media platforms revealed she was now living in Rajkot with another man and running a Garba class, and her son was now 15 years old. Investigators later found she had left her husband following domestic disputes and remarried in 2016, it said.

''Such cases highlight the complex human stories behind disappearances. There are many reasons behind disappearances, including family disputes, marital discord, exam stress, failed relationships, economic hardship and criminal exploitation,'' a senior official said.

To strengthen investigations, a detailed 15-point Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) has been issued to all police stations, the release stated.

The SOP includes reopening case files, contacting complainants, analysing digital and technical evidence, tracking social media activity, checking transport hubs and shelter homes, conducting field visits and questioning suspected traffickers and repeat offenders.

Police personnel have also been instructed to place missing persons' mobile phones under electronic surveillance, track last active locations and examine social media activity on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

''Police are also checking post mortem rooms in government hospitals, matching photographs of unidentified bodies with missing persons records and interrogating suspects previously arrested in kidnapping and trafficking cases. The operation assumes even greater significance after the recent busting of a human trafficking network linked to Andhra Pradesh,'' the release stated.

A large number of missing persons in Gujarat are women, children and teenagers-groups considered most vulnerable to trafficking, abuse and exploitation, it added.

The release said Operation Milap is not merely a policing exercise.

''For many families, it has become a long-awaited reunion and in some cases, the first closure they have received in years,'' the release noted.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)