MANGALORE: Reminded of her mother Sunita, who disappeared suddenly, specially-abled Chitrakala, 18, cried till midnight from the evening recently. And it was not the only time she did so. It has rather become a regular affair with Chitrakala.
Sunita’s grandmother Lakshmi said her widowed daughter Sunita disappeared from her house in Harekala Thokurbetta on October 24 last year.
“After her disappearance, the monthly disability pension of `1,000 is being denied to Chitrakala,” Lakshmi said, and added that her pleas to officials for the pension fell on deaf ears.
Sunita was lured by a married man, Ramesh, from the same Mundalu SC community, with a promise of building a house for her.
Sunita’s other daughters, Amita, pursuing second year PUC and Sujatha studying in X standard, were left to the care of Lakshmi. Sunita took only Chitrakala along with her.
The house was, however, never completed and Sunita was forced to live in a make-shift house.
“One day, Ramesh woke us up, left a completely drenched Chitrakala at our house and disappeared in the dark,” said Lakshmi.
Leela, a neighbour, said, “Sunita was attached to Chitrakala. She was never separated from her daughter and took her wherever she went,” said Leela.
Sunita’s brother Yashodara said he saw signs of a struggle in the house from where Sunita disappeared.
Sujatha filed a police complaint suspecting the role of Ramesh behind her mother’s disappearance.
Konaje police brought a sniffer dog to the spot a month after her disappearance and Ramesh was interrogated for a few hours. But Sunita never came back to her daughters.