Bangalore techie Meghna Subedar found alive in Pune

Bangalore techie Meghna found alive in Pune
Andrew Pereira, Preetu Nair & Yogesh Naik | TNN

Panaji/Mumbai: Meghna Subhedar, the 28-year-old Bangalore-based software engineer who went missing in April from CST railway station and had been thought to be dead till recently was found alive six months later on Friday. The CST railway police received a call from her father on Friday saying that Meghna had turned up at her grandfather’s house at Paud Road, Pune.
Investigating officer Anil Mane of the CST police told TOI, “We got a call from her grandparents that she was in Pune. We reached Pune and found that the girl was at their residence. She looked mentally disturbed and was talking irrelevant things. She did not answer our questions too.”
ACP Bapu Thombre said that Meghna told the police that this morning a crowd of people threw stones at her, which led to her getting a head injury. Police said a doctor who examined her suspected that the blow may have led to her remembering that she had relatives in Pune. Sources said that at around 5.30 pm on Friday, Meghna called up her uncle in Kothrud, Pune from a PCO. She said that she was scared and was being chased by goons. Her uncle picked her up from the PCO. LOST AND FOUND
‘Meghna said she was scared, chased by goons’
Panaji/Mumbai: The Bangalore-based software engineer Meghna Subhedar, 28, who went missing in April from CST railway station and was thought to be dead was found alive on Friday.
Meghna called up her uncle in Kothrud,Pune from a PCO on Friday and said she was scared and being chased by goons.
She was reportedly in a bad state and had injuries all over her body. Her uncle who picked her up from the PCO said that she had just Rs 3 in her pocket. The CST railway police left for Pune after being informed.
Investigating officer Anil Mane of the CST police said that Meghna told the CST police that she had been been several cities which she visited by train. “She has told us that she went to Kolhapur and some south Indian towns. She came to Pune from Hyderabad in a train. She used to beg and eat,'' Mane said.
Since Meghna is mentally stressed, her relatives told the CST police to make inquiries later. “We will soon call her for an interrogation and ask her a few questions,” said Mane. The police feel that she requires immediate counselling and told her relatives to summon a psychiatrist. Mane said that Meghna looks much weaker and stressed. Her parents are reportedly on their way to Pune from their home in Chhatisgarh.
Meghna’s mother Dr Anjali Subedar said, “Meghna called us around 3.30 pm on Friday and said that she was in Pune. She said that she was not feeling well and had suffered a lot. She sounded worried and tense.”
“As she sounded upset we didn’t ask her any questions and advised her to go to Pune to a relative’s place. Now she is with our relative and my husband has left for Pune,” said the mother.
Though the mother suspects that her daughter may have been tortured, she said that she doesn’t have the details and will only be able to tell where her daughter was for seven months and why she didn’t call when they meet.
“At the moment our only concern is that our daughter is fine. She sounded traumatised and we just want to ensure that she is okay.
“Finally our prayers have paid off,” said Dr Subedar, who had been praying and even fasting for her daughter’s wellbeing and safety.
Meghna was employed with an IT firm at Bangalore and went missing from Mumbai while on her way to her hometown Korba in Chhattisgarh. She had come from Bangalore to Mumbai at 4.50 am on April 10. She last called her father on April 10 saying she was at CST, Mumbai and would board the Geetanjali Express. However, when Meghna failed to reach home the next day, her mother, a gynaecologist, made enquiries with relatives and friends. On April 14, she asked her husband, Dr Mohan Subhedar, to lodge a missing person’s complaint with the CST police.
During a police probe it was disclosed that Meghna had two credit cards of ICICI Bank and SBI Bank. She had withdrawn Rs 5,000 from an ICICI ATM in Andheri. The credit card was used the next day to withdraw money from an ATM in Goa.
Meghna’s parents initially suspected that she had been kidnapped in Mumbai and the abductors were using her credit card. So they went to Goa, but were surprised to see CCTV clippings from ATMs showing that Meghna herself had withdrawn money in Goa. From the ATM video footage, her parents said Meghna seemed extremely frightened. Her parents thought she had been either blackmailed or kidnapped. However, investigations drew a blank.
In July, Goa police found a decomposed body on the Candolim beach, North Goa. While her parents initially believed it to be that of their daughter, DNA tests proved otherwise.
Meghna had divorced her husband in 2004. She had reportedly quit her job and was on her way back home when she went missing.

October 11, 2008, The Times of India, Goa edition