Woman who disappeared from Covid-19 ambulance staged her kidnapping

Police has described the disappearance of a 28-year-old customer service executive as a “runaway” case, after the woman tested positive for Covid-19 and went missing boarding an ambulance.

Archana (name changed) was told that she was positive on September 4, a day after an alleged Covid-19 screening camp was held in Bommanahalli. An ambulance was sent to pick up Archana and her family has not seen her since.

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The BBMP has said no such screening camp had been held and the ambulance did not belong to them. Police said Archana has been traced to Delhi’s Paharganj area.

“The police investigated the event and found that the complainant and his wife had a dispute and his wife had planned her exit from the house with assistance from her friend,” police said in a statement. “On September 8, a call from the missing woman landed on the phone of the investigating officer, which was recorded. The voice was identified by her husband and complainant as that of his missing wife.” Archana said she was safe and would sort out the matter with her husband, it added.

Vikas Kumar (25), the missing woman’s brother-in-law, said the police had played a recording of the call for his brother, Viki, to confirm that it had been Archana on the call.

“My brother confirmed that it was Archana, but said that she sounded aggressive or stressed. He said she was speaking slowly in a methodical manner as if thinking about every word,” Kumar said. Viki, however, declined to speak to DH directly. His family said he is too “disturbed” to talk.

Different versions to the story

The disappearance has polarised the BBMP and the family, which has been accused of presenting a skewed version of events to the police. On Sunday, Captain P Manivannan, special officer for Bommanahalli zone, said that a criminal complaint will be filed against the family for “suppressing facts and misleading the authorities”.

However, Kumar insisted that his sister-in-law is the victim of a genuine kidnapping.

“If she wanted to run away, she could have done so before. She used to move around freely. In fact, on the afternoon of September 3, she even attended a job interview in Adugodi. She could have run away then. Who would go to the extent of setting up an elaborate fake Covid testing camp and a fake ambulance?” he said.