Mumbai, Mar 29 (Mid-day) : Nine-year-old Mahesh and his kid sister, three-year-old Preeti, cannot hold back their tears. They haven’t seen their parents for over two months. Their mum and dad left home to visit a dargah in Gujarat and haven’t returned since. Mahesh and his sister Preeti have been without their parents Kundal and Maya since January Kandivli-based Kundan Singh Pratal (35) and his wife Maya (32) left on a visit to a dargah in Unjha in January-end. Both of Maya’s sisters are afflicted by polio and despite trying out the best treatments, they showed no improvement.

On a neighbour’s suggestion, they visited a dargah in Poisar, Kandivli. The family claims the sisters showed some improvement, and Maya kept on visiting the dargah for two years. However, she wished for them to be cured completely, and someone suggested that they visit the Dargah Hazrat Sayed Ali Mira Datar in Unava, Unjha. Maya had taken her sisters there as well, and they seemed to be doing better. So she visited the place at regular intervals for over a year, the last being in January.

“My daughter Maya called me on January 21, and told me she had come to the Poisar dargah and will be leaving home soon. After some time, I got another call saying they were leaving for Unjha. They had to visit the dargah urgently, it seemed. She took a sari from me and left for Dadar to take a train,” recalled Jeevantidevi Bisht, Maya’s mother. Bisht said she received a call from her daughter from Gujarat on January 25, informing her that they would be returning the next day.

However, they never came. “Both their phones are switched off,” she said. The family informed the Samta Nagar police and they were told to file a missing complaint in Gujarat, since that was their last location. People at the dargah told the Unjha police that the couple had left the dargah on January 26. The two have been unreachable since then. Nobody has any clue where they are. “We are scared something wrong may have happened,” said Bisht.