Tanaz: Organ biz or trafficking?

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Tanaz Shaikh remained untraceable on Tuesday with Deccan Chronicle’s telephone calls to her telephone number in Sa­udi Arabia not being answered.

A day after her adopted mother Shamshad Shaikh approached authorities in her native Belgaum for help, fears grew that she could be part of an illegal trafficking racket that targets vulnerable young woman from India.

The missing Tanaz, 23, was employed as a nurse at a hospital in the Saudi capital Riyadh, until she fell ill, was operated on in September 2010 and had her kidney removed. She has not been back to work since then.

Belgaum police has taken up the case of the missing woman who her mother says is always sedated. Belgaum SP Sandeep Patil said he was confident he could track down Tanaz.

Confident of finding Tanaz: Cops

The Belgaum police has taken up the case of missing 23-year-old nurse Tanaz Shaikh, who is allegedly being kept in confinement in Riyadh, and is confident of tracing her in a few days.

After Shamshad Shaikh, the nurse’s mother, raised Tanaz’ issue at a Janata Darshan organised by the police department, Belgaum superintendent of police Sandeep Patil said he would do everything possible to solve the case in a few days.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Mr Patil said he had already obtained details about Tanaz from her mother and was trying to crack the case in two to three days.

“We have the phone numbers which she used to speak to Shamshad Shaikh and are in the process of tracing the place from where she made the call,'' said the SP.

Shamshad Shaikh said that she did not approach any official to get her missing daughter traced in Saudi Arabia for almost one-and-a-half years since September, 2010, hoping her relatives staying in Saudi would help her find Tanaz.

She said she had to write letters to the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia and former external affairs minister S.M. Krishna this year after her efforts to trace her daughter through relatives failed.

“To expedite the case, I submitted a letter to the Belgaum SP on Thursday at the Janata Darshan. I want the authorities to help me get Tanaz back home safe,'' she added.

After the death of her husband 23 years ago, Shamshad said she opened a tailoring shop in Belgaum to support her family.

“I have a son, daughter and an adopted daughter, Tanaz. After completing her diploma in nursing, Tanaz worked in private hospitals in Belgaum and Dharwad before leaving for Saudi in March 2010.

She went to Saudi with the sole objective of getting work experience abroad so that she could start her own hospital in Belgaum to support our family.

She did send some money soon after she joined as nurse in Saudi before her kidney was removed at Mouwasat Hospital where she wor­ked.

After her surgery, she never gave det­­ails about where she was staying,'' says Shamshad.

She said Tanaz often complained that she was not allowed to meet anyone or go out. “She told me she was being given injections every day after which she falls asleep.

She regrets going to Saudi for work whenever she makes phone calls. I am sure the government will be able to trace her,'' says Shamshad.

Police officials who are working on Tanaz's case say they are trying to find out how serious the case is. “Whether Tanaz is being confined a secret place or there is something fishy, remains to be seen,” a police official said.