He planned to visit family in New York, but he left his suitcase behind and was never heard from again.
Christmas had just ended when 29-year-old Zulfikar Charania prepared to leave his sister’s home in Montreal. It was December 26, 1980—Boxing Day. Zulfikar normally lived in Ottawa, Ontario, but he had travelled to Montreal to spend the Christmas holidays with his sister. According to the official missing-person records maintained by the RCMP and Montreal police, his plans after the visit seemed straightforward.
He intended to go to New York, where he would visit another family member. There was nothing about that plan that necessarily suggested Zulfikar was about to disappear. But there was one detail that, more than four decades later, makes his departure difficult to understand. Zulfikar left his suitcase behind and according to Montreal police, his belongings were still inside it. But then he disappeared and his family never heard from him again.
Zulfikar was born in 1951 and was 29 years old when he vanished. He stood approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed around 141 pounds. He had black hair and black eyes. Even his name has created some difficulty in researching the case. The RCMP database identifies him as Zulfiqar Charania, but records several alternative versions: Zulfikarali Ibrahim Charania, Zulfikar Ali Charania and Zulfikar Charania. The SPVM uses Zulfikar Charania. Those variations may partly explain why his case is so difficult to find in historical searches today, but the basic story recorded by both police agencies is remarkably consistent.
Zulfikar lived in Ottawa. He travelled to Montreal for Christmas. He stayed with his sister and on December 26, he left. What happened after that remains unknown. The mention of New York can easily create the impression that Zulfikar disappeared somewhere during a journey between Montreal and the United States, but the official records don’t actually establish that. They say he intended to travel to New York ad that distinction is important. There is no publicly available information I’ve found confirming that Zulfikar purchased a bus, train or airline ticket. There are also no public record establishing that someone drove him toward the border. There is no confirmed sighting of him at a station or airport and there is no publicly documented evidence showing that he crossed into the United States.
As far as the information released by police establishes, Zulfikar’s last confirmed location was Montreal. New York was where he planned to go, but whether he ever began that journey is another question entirely. And then there is the matter of that suitcase.
If Zulfikar was leaving Montreal to visit another relative in another country, why did he leave his belongings behind? It is the detail that immediately invites theories. Perhaps he expected to return to his sister’s home. Perhaps he was only stepping out temporarily before beginning the trip. Perhaps someone else was supposed to bring his luggage or perhaps his plans changed. But none of those explanations appears in the official record because they are only possibilities.
What Montreal police actually say is far simpler and more unsettling: Zulfikar left without his suitcase and belongings and his family never heard from him again. That leaves an enormous blank space in the timeline. We don’t publicly know exactly what time Zulfikar left his sister’s home. Police haven’t said whether someone watched him walk away. We don’t know whether he was picked up by another person. There is also no publicly identified vehicle associated with his disappearance. The RCMP record doesn’t provide a description of what he was wearing.
It isn’t publicly clear what identification or money he carried nor do the available police summaries explain whether the relative in New York was expecting Zulfikar on a particular date. Even the method by which he planned to make the roughly 600-kilometre journey from Montreal to New York remains publicly unknown. Those missing details matter because there are two very different versions of what might have happened. One begins with Zulfikar leaving Montreal and disappearing somewhere on his way to New York and the other begins and ends in Montreal with Zulfikar never making the journey at all. There currently isn’t enough publicly released evidence to determine which is true.
Eventually, Zulfikar’s family realized something was wrong because whatever plans he had made for New York, he did not return to his family. There was no phone call explaining a change of plans, no message reassuring them that he was safe and no known contact telling them he had decided to go somewhere else.
Zulfikar simply disappeared from their lives, but the suitcase remained behind. The years that followed seem almost completely absent from publicly available reporting. Unlike some missing-person investigations from the same era, Zulfikar’s disappearance does not appear to have generated extensive newspaper coverage that remains readily searchable today. There are no widely circulated interviews with relatives explaining what they believe happened. There are no publicly identified suspects. No confirmed sightings have emerged in the material I’ve located. There is no known discovery of remains connected to him and police have not publicly announced a theory explaining his disappearance. The silence surrounding the case is remarkable.
Zulfikar’s family grew older and the world changed but the question remained exactly where it had begun on Boxing Day 1980: Where did Zulfikar go? More than 45 years later, Montreal police still classify Zulfikar Charania as an unresolved missing person.
His photograph remains on the SPVM’s missing-person website, shared with his family’s permission and at the request of investigators. The RCMP’s Canada’s Missing database also continues to carry his case. There are different reference numbers associated with the investigation. Canada’s Missing lists police file 215-15-810114-043, while the current SPVM page displays MTLEV1700482234. The national database itself identifies the case as 2014002831. But none of those records answers the fundamental question.
What happened after Zulfikar walked away?
If you have information on Zulfikar’s case, please contact any of the following:
Service de police de la Ville de Montréal: 514-280-3376
Reference Case#: 215-15-810114-043
Canada’s Missing Case Reference: 2014002831
Crime Stoppers: 1-800-222-TIPS(8477)
Online at: https://www.canadiancrimestoppers.org/submit-a-tip/submit-a-tip
Crime Stoppers provides anonymous tipping
Send email to the National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains at: canadasmissing-disparuscanada@rcmp-grc.gc.ca
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Sources: SPVM, Canada’s Missing
Someone Saw Something 