Where is Harjinder “Harry” Takhar?

It was the 2^nd of October, 2022, when the Takhar family left their home in Telford in the United Kingdom. Harry and his wife, Ran, climbed into the front two seats of the car while two of their children climbed in the back. As they drove, Harry experienced a panic attack and fled from the car. He hasn’t been seen since…

58-year-old Harjinder Takhar was a happily married father of four beautiful children. He was known affectionately as Harry by his loved ones.

Harry and his wife, Ran, lived with their children in Brookside, Telford, United Kingdom, and Harry was a familiar face around the town. His wife, Ran, said of him: “He is a very jolly character, full of energy and life, very passionate, caring and kind-hearted.” Harry was also a very respected member of the community, and he could often be spotted in Stirchley Pools in the town walking his two much-loved black Labrador dogs.

Stirchley pools is a popular wooded area in the town of Telford. It consists of woodland with two large ponds in the middle. On any given day of the week, you’re bound to bump into a fisher or somebody out on a jog or walking their dog.

Harry was a doting father to his four children, and they could always count on him to cheer them up. As Ran recalled: “He is normally a very confident motivational person, full of advice and wisdom, usually the one lifting everyone else up.” His niece, Aastha Pal, posted on Facebook: “Harry Uncle is like a second dad to me and always looked after me when I spent summers and holidays at the house. He is the light of our family, always uplifting us during our saddest times and pointing out the positives in life. He is the life of the party, and always the first laugh we hear in the mornings.”

The family said that Harry was known for his fantastic cups of tea, and his never-ending supply of fantastic stories to tell around the dinner table. His son, Sam, had just recently gotten married and Harry was the life and soul of the celebration, making sure to make everybody laugh with his impromptu dances. If there was ever anybody in need, Harry would be the first to offer them a helping hand. He had a very generous and warm nature, and it served him well in his career as a motivational speaker. In fact, in March of 2022, he raised almost £1,000 for the charity, Shelter, which is a charity that campaigns for tenant rights in Great Britain/

On the morning of the 2^nd of October, 2022, Harry pulled on a navy blue Barbour jacket, navy blue shirt, black jeans and black trainers.

He got into the car with his wife, son, Callum, and daughter, Pooja. They were driving in the direction of Telford Town Park, but suddenly, Harry began to say that he felt sick and claustrophobic and said that he was struggling to breathe. It sounded like Harry was having a panic attack. Ran pulled over to the side of the road. Harry was sitting in the front passenger seat, but when the car rolled to a stop, he turned around and climbed over Callum in the back seat to get out of the rear door. In the process, Harry hurt his arm.

The family speculated that Harry was going to vomit in some bushes, but when he got out of the car, he bolted off into the wooded area beside Stirchley Pools. The family sat there stunned for a moment. The behaviour was like nothing they had ever seen from Harry before, but after a couple of seconds, Callum and Pooja chased after him but Harry was gone…

The family searched for Harry before returning home and reporting him missing. The behaviour that Harry exhibited perplexed the family. For quite a while, Harry hadn’t been sleeping well and he was dealing with anxiety. He had been placed on new mediation which only seemed to exacerbate these issues. Ran believed that Harry had suffered from a serious panic attack and felt an overwhelming sense to flee. She commented: “This is totally out of character for him. He has never done anything like this before, so something has gone seriously wrong.”

The hours continued to trickle past with no sign of Harry. With each hour that passed, his family’s fears only escalated. Harry hadn’t taken his mobile phone out with him that morning, so the family couldn’t try to reach him that way, nor could it be used as a tool to try and search for him as it pinged to towers. He also hadn’t taken his wallet with him.

As Ran said: “His disappearance is completely out of character and extremely concerning for us.” By the 4^th of October, it had been two days since Harry was last seen. Police asked the public to keep an eye out for Harry, with a spokesman for West Mercia Police stating: “We’re growing increasingly concerned for a welfare.” Harry’s family also pleaded for any information regarding Harry’s whereabouts, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem.

On Wednesday, West Mercia Search & Rescue scrambled their water team to the town to scour through Stirchley Pools. Since Harry was seen

The search and rescue team were assisted by volunteers from the Severan Area Rescue Association’s Wyre Forest Station. Meanwhile, West Mercia Police would renew their appeal to find Harry. Detective Inspector Jo Whitehead said: “Harry is a well-known and well-loved member of the community and his disappearance is very out of character. I’d like to thank the public for their ongoing support in helping us to locate him, and urge anyone with information or dash cam, CCTV or video doorbell footage to please come forward immediately.”

The campaign to find any information on Harry and his whereabouts was launched in the West Midlands as well, where the Takhar family  had links in the Smethwick, Bearwood and Greater Birmingham areas. Ran said in the media that since Harry wasn’t well, he could have tried to flee to his old home. The communities in all of these areas truly bounded together to try and get Harry home safely. Over 3,000 leaflets were distributed all throughout the towns. Taxi drivers stuck them to their windows, and so did shop owners and even local temples.

In an attempt to spread the word about Harry’s disappearance far and wide, the family set up a Facebook page titled: Help Find Missing Harjinder Takhar “Harry.” Here, they shared photographs of Harry as well as information regarding his disappearance. Locals in Telford and the surrounding area joined and shared places that could potentially be searched for Harry, such as wooded areas and abandoned buildings.

A family spokesman stated: “The response from the community has been fantastic with everyone looking out for him or leads on where he might be. He was well known in the Telford Town Park area where he walked the dogs and he was last seen but so far nothing has come up. We are hoping by spreading the search via Facebook and the leaflet campaign will jog someone’s memory or turn up a lead that may help find him and we are prepared to go to all areas if it will help.”

While a handful of leads were coming in from people who believed that they may have seen Harry, none of them had been lucrative thus far, with Detective Inspector Whitehead stating: “Unfortunately every lead we have had so far hasn’t come to any fruition. I would appeal for anyone who might have seen Harry – who was well known in the area – to get in touch as soon as they can. “This has been a very unusual missing person case, as usually we would have had some sort of information or positive sightings since he was last seen. There are a lot of dog walkers in the area who have told us they are familiar with him but unfortunately there have been no sightings. “We will continue to search the surrounding area and will if necessary be bringing in another dog team over the weekend but we hope he reappears before then.”

What scared the family the most was that Harry knew Stirchley Pools like the back of his hand. It was his favourite place to walk the dogs, so it was inconceivable to them that he had somehow gotten lost in the woodland. As Ran said: “I feel and know in my gut he is not in there, that he left on the Sunday morning.” The family were hoping that somebody somewhere had captured Harry on CCTV leaving the park, or even if somebody who had been in the area that morning had seen him leave the park. It would give them a new angle to focus on.

On the 9^th of October, Former Liberal Democrat Leader Tim Farron announced that he was joining in on the efforts to find Harry. Tim was actually related to Harry through marriage. He shared Harry’s missing person poster to his almost 300k followers. He urged the public to help search for Harry, writing: “Harry, my niece’s father-in-law, has been missing since last Sunday, and we are all very worried.” He shared a link to the police appeal and wrote: “Please would you read this piece from [West] Mercia Police and if you have any information no matter how small, please call 999 immediately. Thank you.”

Meanwhile, social media users began to use the hashtag helpharryhome to help in the search for Harry. On the 10^th of October, it had been over a week since Harry was last seen. In an attempt to keep his disappearance at the forefront of everyone’s minds, Ran and Callum made a television appeal.

Following the television appeal, the family released some new photographs of Harry. It was a photograph of Harry with a beard. His daughter, Pooja, wrote alongside the updated photograph: “Our Dad has been missing for 12 days now and we expect that he will not have shaved in that time. We are sharing a photo of him with some stubble which may more likely resemble what he looks like now. Please keep sharing this page and help him home.”

Harry still remains missing today. If you have any information about his whereabouts or if you believe you may have seen him, please either call police on 999 or call the family at 07809687569.

Footnotes:

Shropshire Star, 4 October, 2022 – “Police Increasingly Concerned for Missing Telford Man Last Seen in Wooded Area”

Shropshire Star, 6 October, 2022 – “Wife of Missing Telford Man Speaks of her Husband’s Jolly Character”

Express & Star, 7 October, 2022 – “Missing Man Suffered Panic Attack”

Birmingham Mail, 9 October, 2022 – “Smethwick Dad in Mystery Disappearance is Relation of Ex Lib Dem Leader Tim Farron”

Birmingham Mail, 11 October, 2022 – “Telford Dad Missing for Nine Days”

Express & Star, 11 October, 2022 – “Family Step Up Search for Missing Father”

Express & Star, 13 October, 2022 – “Missing Telford Man’s Family Shares New Picture”