The Ladakh administration has launched a massive search operation for a 36-year-old woman from Nagpur who mysteriously went missing on May 14 from Hunderban village in the Kargil district.
Hunderban village is located near the Line of Control (LoC) in Ladakh, and it is widely believed that the woman may have deliberately crossed over into Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). However, authorities have not yet confirmed whether she crossed the LoC.
The missing woman has been identified as Sunita Bholeshwar Jamgade, a resident of Nagpur, Maharashtra.
According to reports, Sunita had been staying at a hotel in Kargil with her minor son since May 9. On May 14, hotel staff informed the police about her mysterious disappearance, while her son remained at the hotel.
Shocked by the incident, the authorities issued a lookout notice on May 15 in an effort to trace her whereabouts. Local officials suspect that she may have crossed into Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, although there has been no official confirmation.
Police stated that there is still no conclusive evidence to confirm her crossing into PoJK. Sunita, a former nurse, reportedly had no known contacts in the region. She had been living separately with her son following a divorce in 2020.
It has also emerged that this was not her first attempt to cross the border. Reports indicate that in March this year, Sunita had tried to enter Pakistan via the Attari border near Amritsar but was stopped by the Border Security Force (BSF).
Shockingly, Sunita had traveled all the way from Nagpur to the Attari border with her 15-year-old son in a previous attempt to cross into Pakistan. After failing to cross there, it is believed she traveled to Kargil to attempt crossing the LoC.
Reports further suggest that she had been in contact with a Pakistani phone number over WhatsApp.
Meanwhile, her child is currently under the care of the Juvenile Justice Board until family members arrive in Kargil to take custody.
