Parents in desperate plea for new information on missing son Tej Chitnis

WHEN Tej Chitnis left his home more than a year ago, little did his parents know it would be the beginning of a painful story.

Reva and Jayant Chitnis just want answers about their son’s disappearance. Picture: Sarah Matray

NOT a day goes by where Jayant and Reva Chitnis don’t think about their son Tej, who disappeared without a trace a year ago.

“It’s worse than death, the not knowing,” his mother said.

The now-22-year-old was last seen leaving his Burwood East family home on Bonview Cres just before 10.30am on April 27, 2016.

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Tej had told his father he was heading into the city and would return in time for his dad’s birthday dinner that night, however when he failed to appear his parents knew something was amiss.

It would later emerge Tej’s car — a silver VW Golf — drove through Healesville about 11.30am on April 27, with the last ping from his mobile phone also coming from Melbourne’s outer east, but there have been no further clues as to his whereabouts since.

His parents have been left with hundreds of questions but no answers.

Tej Chitnis was 21 when he disappeared.

“Our whole world is upside down, and one year down the track, it’s now the not knowing which is very difficult,” Tej’s father said.

“Where is he? Why hasn’t he called? Is he able to call? Is he by himself? Is someone looking after him?

“There are moments in the day, especially when you’re alone, like when I walk to the tram to get to work in the morning, that’s the time all these thoughts come to you.”

Mrs Chitnis said the lack of leads or possible sightings of Tej had them and the police baffled.

“From the time his car was sighted in Healesville, we have
had absolutely no lead after that, nothing at all. It’s like he’s vanished into thin air, and I can’t believe in this day and age a car can just vanish, and a person can just vanish,” she said.

“If the car had been involved in an accident or been burnt somewhere … there would be signs that happened, but instead there’s nothing,” Mr Chitnis said.

“So until (the police) find something like the car, that could then lead to a lot of things, but that hasn’t happened. They monitor his bank account, nothing has moved. They monitor his credit card, no action on that. The car registration has been flagged. There is nothing else we can do.”

CCTV cameras captured Tej Chitnis's car in Healesville on the morning of his disappearance.

In the weeks following Tej’s disappearance it emerged that he hadn’t attended university for more than a year despite telling his parents he had been doing so.

“He’d leave the house telling us he’d be going to uni, and told us he wanted to apply for medicine, and we were all taking his word for it — when he says ‘I got a HD for this’, I’m not going to go and ask him for his transcript, I just took it at face value,” Mr Chitnis said.

“There was no reason not to believe him until then — why would you not trust your child?”

His parents have pleaded for anyone with information about his disappearance to phone Box Hill police station on 8892 3200.

“We want to get a message out to Tej, that even if he doesn’t want to come back just let us know your safe,” she said.

“That’s the main thing — we need to know.”