Panipat:
Neena Gaba is in her 40s. She lives in a large home in a part of Panipat populated with rich industrialists. Her husband, Rajesh, owns a large textiles business.
The walls of their house are dotted with photos of their family vacations - the couple with their two daughters and a young son. Neena can rarely bring herself to look at them. She last touched her son, Tejas, 18 months ago. He was eight. She can see him now, in an email attachment stored on her husband's hard drive. His eyes are bandaged with masking tape. "Hello, Mummy," he says, stiltedly, "I am fine. Do whatever these people tell you to...and don't inform the police." The video appeal was sent to the family in December 2008, two days after Tejas was kidnapped. It is part of the evidence that the CBI relies on repeatedly as it tries to find Tejas.
Tejas was a quiet child, says Neena. One winter morning, uncharacteristically, he kissed his father before leaving for school with his mother. Neena, who was driving, decided to indulge him. She pulled over to a roadside shop, and stepped out to get a chocolate for him. A man zipped up in a silver Honda Accord, and grabbed Tejas from the car. When Neena rushed after him, he shot at her, but missed.
The ransom calls began almost immediately. There were different male voices, they all asked for ten crores to be handed over. As proof that Tejas was alive, the video arrived via email. Neena nearly fainted when she saw it.
In the beginning, the Gabas did not contact the local police. Neena says that while they were willing to pay the ransom, the kidnappers were unable to prove that Tejas was still with them. They stopped short of fixing a time and place to hand over the child. The Gabas finally called the cops.
The police began monitoring the calls received every week by the Gabas. It was clear that the kidnappers were moving between Delhi and Chandigarh. And then, in March 2009, the phone stopped ringing. Tejas had been gone for three months. The CBI agreed to take on the case after the Haryana government intervened last month - 19 months after the child vanished.
Neena has not allowed anything in Tejas' room to change. Standing in front of her son's bed, she says, Please come forward to help us. We are offering a reward of Rs 50 lakhs. The police has offered another 15. I appeal to all mothers...please help me."
Rajesh Gaba says he had no personal or business enemies who might have sought revenge by orchestrating Tejas' disappearance. "Whoever has taken him...even though we have no personal enmity with these people, we have nothing in our hearts against them...we are ready to forgive them," he pleads. A website set up by the family -
Tejasgaba.com - has detailed accounts of the family's anguish. Neena writes, "God has been with me like a shadow, strengthening me every minute and I believe that he is also taking care of Tejas."
Based on its early investigation, the Haryan Police has released security camera footage from a hotel where they suspect one of the kidnappers stayed before Tejas was taken from his mother's car.
Tejas, his parents say, resembles Darsheel Safary, the child star of Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par. The Gabas want Aamir to campaign on their behalf. "I appeal to Aamir Khan to come forward and help this mother," says Neena, stressing that the superstar may provoke strangers into sharing information on her missing son.
If you have any leads on Tejas Gaba, please contact his father, Rajesh, at 9812036741.