Nearly 8,000 missing persons still untraced in Delhi, most from outer north

New Delhi: More than 7,880 people reported missing in Delhi between January 1 and July 23 this year remain untraced, with the highest number of such cases recorded in the Outer North district, according to data from the Zonal Integrated Police Network (ZIPNET).

Of the untraced individuals, 4,753 are women and 3,133 are men.

Outer North reported the highest number of untraced individuals with 908 cases from such areas as Bawana, Swaroop Nagar and Samaypur Badli. New Delhi district has the lowest number of untraced victims at 85, data revealed.

The high-security New Delhi area comprises areas like Tilak Marg, Chanakyapuri and Parliament Street.

The North East district recorded the second highest number at 730 cases, followed by South West, 717, South East, 689, and Outer, 675, districts. Dwarka recorded 644, North West 636, East 577, and Rohini 452 such cases, the data showed.

In the Central district, 363 people remain untraced, while the North, South, and Shahdara districts had 348, 215, and 201 people still missing.

Between January 1 and July 23, 1,486 bodies remain unidentified, the majority of which were men.

The North district accounted for the highest number with 352 unidentified bodies, from areas including Kotwali, Sabzi Mandi and Civil Lines, according to the data.

The Central district recorded 113 such cases, North West, 93, South East, 83, South West and North East, 73 each, Outer, 65, East and New Delhi, 55 each, West and Outer North, 54 each, Rohini, 44, Shahdara, 42, Dwarka, 35, South, 26 and Railways, 23.

The lowest was recorded at IGI Airport with just one unidentified body, the data said.

"Initially, when the police find a body, they try to trace the deceased person's identity and contact their family. Then we receive Rs 2,500 for transporting the body to a mortuary in the hospital and for the procedures involved," said a senior officer.

If no one comes forward in a reasonable time, a post-mortem is done, the body is moved to the mortuary, and cremation is carried out, for which another Rs 2,500 is spent, he added.

"This is usually handled by the police or in some cases by NGOs," he added.

The officer recalled a case in which a young man's body was recovered in a swollen state and cremated. Days later, the man's parents approached police and mentioned a tattoo the officer had missed. It was then confirmed that the cremated body was their son's.

Zipnet, a centralised database used by law enforcement agencies to track missing persons and unidentified bodies, compiles data across multiple states and union territories.