Tragedy struck for the second time in the Ali family, which had only just begun to mourn the demise of one family member, when another mysteriously went missing on Tuesday.

Sayyed Shahid Ali, a 38-year-old engineer based in Dubai, went missing on his way to Mumbai Airport, to catch a flight home after performing the last rites of his mother in Aurangabad.

Sayyed came to India last month, after his mother passed away. After all the rituals were over, he decided to return to his job in Dubai. He was booked onto a 6.55 pm flight from Mumbai on Tuesday, but never made it there.

The last anyone heard from him was earlier that evening, when he called his brother Sajid to tell him his train (Rajendra Nagar express) had reached Dadar station and was heading to the airport.

“After our mother’s death, my brother came to India. On Tuesday evening he had a return flight to Dubai, and he decided to visit our sister’s house in Nashik the day before that,” said Sajid, adding that Sayyed was to return to Mumbai just three weeks later for his wedding.

Sajid recalled that his brother had last called around 4 pm on Tuesday. “Since then, his phone has been out of the network area. We searched at our relatives’ house, and our cousins in Dubai even checked at the airport there, but there was no sign of my brother,” he added. At the time of going to press, no police complaint had been filed.

Sajid boarded a bus to Mumbai last night and will file a complaint once he reaches. In the meantime, Sayyed’s friend notified the Dadar railway police, which has begun looking for clues in CCTV footage of the station. “My brother kept a very low profile and had no problems with anyone.

He was working as production engineer with Dubai Cable Company for the last seven years. He lived with our cousin brothers in Dubai and used to come to India twice a year,” Sajid said, adding, “Sayyed’s marriage was fixed with a Mumbai-based girl. The wedding was to take place on May 13. We fear for the worst. We are very afraid; he has gone missing in a city like Mumbai, where anything can happen.”