In the autumn of 2013, a four-year-old girl named Nikhita Jagtiani disappeared from her home in Rego Park, a neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York City. She was last seen on October 1, 2013, in the care of her non-custodial mother, Anupama Sharma. The disappearance occurred during a contentious custody dispute between her parents. Nikhita, a young girl of Asian descent with brown hair and brown eyes, had just begun a new chapter in her life, having recently been enrolled in a school in
Manhattan. This promising start was abruptly cut short when her mother removed her from the school under the pretext of a family emergency.
Following Nikhita's removal from school, Anupama Sharma took deliberate steps to sever her ties in New York. She took a leave of absence from her employment and terminated her residential lease, effectively erasing her and her daughter's presence in the city. The two vanished without a trace, leaving behind a concerned father, Vikram Jagtiani. Sometime after their disappearance, Sharma contacted Vikram with the distressing news that she and Nikhita were in India and had no plans to come back. This revelation confirmed that Nikhita had been taken out of the country without her father's consent.
The case of Nikhita Jagtiani is being handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigations - New York Field Office. In June of 2016, a federal warrant for kidnapping was issued for Anupama Sharma. Despite the passage of time and the efforts of law enforcement, Nikhita's exact whereabouts in India remain unknown. The circumstances of this case highlight a painful parental abduction, where a young child was taken from her home and familiar surroundings. The core of the issue involves a custody disagreement that escalated into an international disappearance, leaving a father searching for his daughter and a little girl's life irrevocably altered.Last Seen: Oct 1, 2013
