Former actor and activist Somy Ali, known for her past relationship with Salman Khan, has revealed that she has spent the last 16 years searching for missing Bollywood actor Raj Kiran, saying she made a promise to late actor Rishi Kapoor that she would never stop looking for him.Raj Kiran, who mysteriously disappeared in the early 2000s, remains one of Bollywood’s biggest unsolved mysteries.
Somy Ali recalls promise made to Rishi Kapoor
Sharing a detailed post on Instagram, Somy said her search began after a conversation with Rishi Kapoor during a film shoot. The two were reminiscing about Karz, in which Raj Kiran had starred alongside Kapoor, when they discussed the actor’s unexplained disappearance.According to Somy, they decided to look for Raj Kiran together. While Rishi Kapoor passed away in 2020 without finding him, she said she has continued the search on her own.“I made a promise to Chintu ji during a shoot and before he left us that I will never stop my search for Raj Kiran. This is my 16th year. I have knocked on random doors via addresses given to me by private investigators. I found an apartment in New York where the front desk man told me that he never saw Raj Kiran, but his brother, Gobind, Judy, Gobind’s wife, and their daughter lived in that apartment for 11 years,” she wrote.
Somy Ali contacted Raj Kiran’s family
Somy shared screenshots and photographs documenting her efforts to trace the missing actor, including attempts to reach his brother Gobind and sister-in-law Judy.“I have reached out to everyone from his family, but to no avail. It’s not just a promise I made to Chintu ji, but also because I am genuinely concerned whether Raj ji is okay or being kept somewhere under coercion,” she added.Appealing to the public for help, Somy wrote, “While it’s not a huge reward, if anyone can provide a legitimate address—whether it is a mental health facility or an apartment—you will be rewarded. Please help. Thank you.”
Considered filing a missing person’s report
Among the documents shared was a letter Somy said she sent to Judy via LinkedIn. In it, she revealed that she had considered approaching the New York Police Department.“My last resort was to file a missing person’s report with the NYPD and offer a reward of $5,000 to anyone who could provide legitimate information,” the letter read.She also revealed that she had spent her own savings and even borrowed money from her mother to continue the search.“I have nothing to gain from this. As I mentioned, I have spent money—some borrowed from my mother and the rest from my own savings—just to find him. I urge you to be kind in this predicament and show him my message,” she wrote.
Raj Kiran’s disappearance remains a mystery
Raj Kiran disappeared in the early 2000s, and over the years, conflicting reports have emerged about his whereabouts.At one point, Rishi Kapoor claimed that Raj Kiran’s brother Gobind had told him the actor was alive and staying at a psychiatric institution in Atlanta.“I was relieved when Govind told me Raj was alive. But he was confined to an institution in Atlanta because of health issues,” Rishi had told journalist Subhash K. Jha.However, Raj Kiran’s daughter, Rishika Mahata, later disputed the claim.“He is not in Atlanta. We have been looking for him for over eight years. We have involved the New York Police and hired private detectives to find him, but he has not been found,” she told Mid-day.Remembering her father, she added, “He was the most loving father. Yes, he suffered from some mental health issues before he disappeared. We wanted to deal with this privately, but the false reports forced me to speak out. It was unfair to my mother.”Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, who had met Raj Kiran during his treatment, also recalled the actor’s condition in an interview with Rediff.“Many years ago, when he was in the psychiatric ward of Masina Hospital, he was not the Raj Kiran I had known. He looked sombre and depressed, and spoke with great difficulty. There was none of the energy or enthusiasm that we associated with him,” Mahesh said.Despite years of efforts by his family, friends and investigators, Raj Kiran’s whereabouts remain unknown, making his disappearance one of Bollywood’s most enduring mysteries.
