Missing 26/11 witness returns home

Mumbai, Jan 14 (PTI) Anita Uddaiya, a witness to the
landing of terrorists involved in the Mumbai terror attacks,
who was missing since Sunday, returned to her home in the
metropolis Wednesday.

"She has come back to her house," Additional Commissioner
of Police K Venkatesham told PTI stating that further
investigation is on into the matter.

Uddaiya, a resident of Fishermen's Colony in Cuffe Parade
in south Mumbai, returned home at around 0130 hours after she
went missing on Sunday, said Ganapati Kawde, police inspector
of Cuffe Parade police station.

"Later she was brought to police station and her
statement was recorded as a missing complaint was registered
earlier," Kawde said.

"Within half-an-hour after her return, the police van
came and took her to police station," said a neighbour.

Though she came back, Uddaiya and her family members were
not available at home.

"She learnt about what had happened in her absence. After
we recored her statement, she might have gone to her
relative's place in Virar to avoid media," said a police
officer.

On Anita's disappearance, Kawde clarified that she had
gone to Satara district in western Maharashtra to meet her
relatives.

"She went to Satara to meet her brother. Because of some
communication gap, the message was not conveyed to the family
members," said Kawde.

"She went to St George hospital on Sunday to see her
husband Rajendra who had undergone an operation. She told him
that she was going out for four days. However, her husband who
is not well did not hear properly what she was saying," Kawde
said.

An officer, on the condition of anonymity, said that she
travelled till Satara in a milk tanker. "She met her brother
there and returned on a milk tanker," the officer said.

"She is also feeling uncomfortable after media repeatedly
started focusing on her after she became a witness in the
terror attacks," an officer said.

The woman had seen the terrorists land in a rubber dinghy
on the beach at the colony. But when she asked them where they
had come from, she was told to mind her own business.

After the attacks, she had been taken to the state-run J
J Hospital to identify the bodies of the nine killed
terrorists, police had said.

Uddaiya, who deals in scrap, had been living with her
family in the colony.

The woman's absence was noticed by her niece, who could
not locate her aunt despite all efforts. After that, she
informed Uddaiya's daughter who stays in neighbouring Thane.

Later, a missing complaint was filed with the police.
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