Munna Bhai MBBS actor borrowed Rs 500, vanished without a trace 10 years ago

Remember the young man in Munna Bhai MBBS who is heartbroken after being rejected by a girl and attempts to end his life? In the film’s popular song “Apun Jaise Tapori”, Sanjay Dutt’s Munna Bhai comes to his rescue and tries to console him. The role was brief, but the actor playing that young man, Vishal Thakkar, became recognisable to audiences after the 2003 film.

Vishal Thakkar went on to build a career across films and television, appearing in movies such as Tango Charlie and working in popular television shows including Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, Thapki Pyaar Ki, Aahat and Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil, among others. He was a familiar face in the television industry and continued to take on acting assignments. But in January 2016, his life took a mysterious turn when he disappeared without a trace. More than 10 years later, there is still no confirmed account of what happened to him.

Vishal would have been around 40 years old in 2026.

The night before Vishal Thakkar disappeared

It was December 31, 2015, and Vishal was at his family’s home in Mulund. According to a 2019 report in The Indian Express, he had asked his mother Durga to accompany him to a theatre to watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She did not go, a decision she would later deeply regret because it was the last time she saw her son.

At around 10.30 pm, Vishal borrowed Rs 500 from his mother and left their flat. A few hours later, at around 1 am, he sent a message to his father Mahendra, a businessman, telling him, “I am going to a party. See you tomorrow.” That would be the last communication his family received from him.

The following morning, Vishal was missing. At the time, he was 30 years old.

His mother was still waiting for answers three years later when The Indian Express spoke to her in 2019.

“I have no clue what happened to my son,” Durga said.

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Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. actor Vishal Thakkar went missing in 2016.

Vishal’s last known sighting

According to the police, Vishal had spent New Year’s Eve with his girlfriend at a resort on the Ahmedabad highway. On their way back, the couple stopped at the Fountain Hotel on Ghodbunder Road for tea. It was there that Vishal reportedly told her that he needed to meet a friend in Andheri.

Investigating officer Jayvant Padvi explained what police had learnt from her during the investigation.

“While having tea at Fountain, Vishal told her he had to meet a friend in Andheri and left. Thereafter, she tried looking for him but in vain. His phone too is switched off ever since. Nobody knows about his whereabouts,” Padvi had told media in 2016.

Police said Vishal was last spotted at around 11.45 am on January 1 as he hailed an autorickshaw towards Andheri, where he was expected to go for a shoot. His last call data records also placed him around Ghodbunder Road, after which the investigation was transferred from Mulund police station to Kasarvadavli police.

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At around 12.10 pm on January 1, Vishal posted a New Year greeting on Facebook. It was his last known social media activity. Soon afterwards, his phone was switched off and, according to the 2019 report, it was never switched on again.

There was no ransom call, no hospital reported an unidentified man matching his description and his phone was never recovered. His bank account also reportedly showed no activity after his disappearance, leaving investigators with very little evidence to establish where he had gone.

Former investigating officer Mahendra Puri, who had filed the missing complaint at Mulund police station, said investigators initially examined the possibility that Vishal’s girlfriend could have been involved.

“Initially, we suspected the girlfriend. But her statement had no discrepancies,” he told Indian Express in 2019.

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Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. actor Vishal Thakkar went missing in 2016.

Inspector N A Kulkarni summed up the uncertainty surrounding the investigation and said, “We don’t know if it’s a murder, or a kidnapping, or he has run away.”

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The complaint that came months before his disappearance

Three months before Vishal went missing, he had found himself involved in a controversy that his family later believed may have affected him deeply.

In October 2015, his then girlfriend, who was also a television actor, filed a complaint accusing him of rape and assault. Vishal’s family maintained that the dispute was subsequently resolved and that the complaint was withdrawn.

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Speaking to The Indian Express, Vishal’s mother recalled how suddenly the situation had escalated. “She frequented our house. One day they were together and the next day, she landed at my door with police,” Durga said.

According to her, the dispute was eventually resolved between the couple. “It was a minor fight. Later, the two of them resolved it,” she added.

His family believed the episode had taken an emotional toll on him. “He was a mumma’s boy. He could not bear the insult we faced,” Durga told the newspaper.

Police also said at the time that Vishal’s acting career had suffered after the complaint and that he was depressed because he was not getting enough work.

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There was another tragic development involving the woman who had filed the complaint. Eight months before the 2019 Indian Express report, she was found dead at her Kandivali flat, with reports at the time suggesting a possible heart attack.

Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. actor Vishal Thakkar went missing in 2016.

The actor behind the Munna Bhai role

Vishal’s appearance in Munna Bhai MBBS in 2003 gave him recognition, but Thakkar’s career went beyond that seven-minute appearance.

He had already appeared in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Chandni Bar before Munna Bhai MBBS. He subsequently appeared in Tum: A Dangerous Obsession and Tango Charlie.

Television gave him an even wider range of opportunities. His credits included Aahat, Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil, Kahaani Hamaaray Mahaabhaarat Ki, Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, Adalat, Dharmakshetra, Savdhaan India and Thapki Pyaar Ki, among others.

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Jaya Bhattacharya said Vishal was disturbed

In a 2019 interview with SpotboyE, actor Jaya Bhattacharya, who had worked with him on Thapki Pyaar Ki, spoke about the actor and recalled that he appeared disturbed during the period before he went missing.

She said she had actually met Vishal much earlier, during his child-actor days on Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Years later, when they worked together on Thapki Pyaar Ki, it was Vishal who remembered her and reminded her of their earlier association.

“He was disturbed but I am heartbroken that we still can’t find him,” she said.

Jaya Bhattacharya also recalled their conversations during lunch breaks and said Vishal would often come and talk to her.

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“He used to talk a lot, actually,” she said, adding that she wished he had opened up more about what he was going through because perhaps she could have helped him.

She remembered him as a dog lover and spoke warmly about his personality and his work as an actor.

No breakthrough

By 2019, the case had been taken up by constable Rajesh Pandey, who was known for having traced hundreds of missing people in Mumbai. Pandey circulated Vishal’s photograph through a nationwide network involving railway officers, hospitals and police personnel in an attempt to find some clue about his whereabouts.

But the effort did not produce a breakthrough. “No trace yet,” Pandey said at the time.

More than 10 years after Vishal Thakkar went missing, there is still no confirmed information about his whereabouts. Despite efforts by the police and missing-person networks to trace him, his whereabouts remain unknown.