Delhi HC directs police to find missing Senior citizens amid abduction allegations

January 12, 2026

The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi Police to immediately trace three senior citizens who have been missing for nearly a month from south Delhi’s Vasant Kunj, after their daughter alleged abduction, burglary and continued police inaction.

The direction came while the court was hearing a writ of habeas corpus filed through Advocate Sumit Gehlot, seeking the production and safe recovery of the missing elderly persons.

A Division Bench of the Delhi High Court, comprising Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Manoj Jain, issued the direction on a petition moved by Ondrilla Dasgupta. The court has scheduled a further hearing on January 13, 2026.

According to the petition, Dasgupta’s parents, Mihir Kumar Dasgupta (70) and Anindita Dasgupta (60) and her uncle, Sameer Dasgupta (75), along with their pet dog, went missing around 2.30 pm on December 13, 2025, from their residence in Pocket-A, Sector-A, Vasant Kunj.

Dasgupta stated that when she reached the house later that evening, after repeated calls went unanswered, she found the premises ransacked, with household articles scattered, suggesting burglary.

She lodged a complaint at the Kishangarh police station the same day, which was entered as a daily diary. The complainant further alleged that she received threatening phone calls from her ex-husband, Shayak Sen, who purportedly claimed responsibility for abducting the elderly family members and warned her against pursuing the matter with the police.

Subsequent supplementary complaints were filed on December 14 and 15 after additional alleged threats, including one via WhatsApp, during which other family members were also named as being involved in the alleged abduction.
Despite repeated visits to the police station between December 16 and 18, Dasgupta claimed that no effective steps were taken to trace her parents and uncle. She has invoked multiple cognisable offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, including abduction, kidnapping, wrongful confinement, theft, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy, alleging that the accused are influential and politically connected.

With no FIR registered despite three written complaints, Dasgupta, through Advocate Sumit Gehlot, approached the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution, read with Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, seeking urgent directions to the police. Separately, she has also moved an application under Section 175(3) of the BNSS before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Patiala House Courts, seeking registration of an FIR. On January 6, 2026, the Magistrate directed the Delhi Police to file a status report and listed the matter for January 13, 2026.