It was a poignant reunion, and Viral Patel let the tears flow.

“I hugged my daughter tightly, cried and thanked God,” said Patel, choking up. “And I swore never to let go of Roma — even for a moment . . . never. Those were the worst four hours of my life.”

Roma is the month-old baby girl with fat, rosy cheeks and a thick mop of dark hair who was allegedly abducted late Thursday night while attending a casting call with her parents. She was missing for four hours before being located near Eglinton Ave. and Midland Rd.

She was in a different set of clothes, but was unharmed.

Michelle Marie Gopaul, 24, of New York City, is charged with abduction of an infant. She appeared at an Old City Hall courtroom on Saturday and was denied bail; she will be back in court on Tuesday.

The bizarre saga, with wild twists that have left everyone scratching their heads, began on Dec. 19 when Craigslist ads started popping up offering up to $15,000 for an Indian baby girl to star in a Hindi film.

Prospects were told to send a headshot to an email address.

On Thursday, a young woman called an Etobicoke yoga studio at Birmingham St. near Islington Ave., and asked to rent it for auditions. The person who answered its phone, Barbara Ades, declined.

The woman called back. The name that appeared on the caller ID was Dianne Miller.

Miller, allegedly Gopaul, couldn’t convince Ades to rent out the studio so she went to A La Carte Video, a production studio next door. She persuaded Nathalie Malette, its owner who was travelling, to rent that space out.

According to Frank Berti, an electrician who was working there while the studio was closed for the holidays, several couples turned up with infants. “Dianne” met with them in an office in the back.

The Patels walked in some time after 10 p.m. — 45 minutes later, their daughter was gone.

“I don’t know how I feel . . . I don’t want to think about her (Gopaul),” said Patel, choking up in an interview with the Star.

“We shouldn’t have gone.”

For the 35-year-old Patel, an IT professional in north Etobicoke, it started on Thursday afternoon with a call. “It was my wife Sejal’s friend. She said there were some auditions being held for a baby girl for a Bollywood movie and we should take Roma.”

They decided to go.

They didn’t dress Roma up; the little girl was in a white night suit and bundled up in a blanket.

When the family reached A La Carte Videos, they were met by a young woman who introduced herself as Dianne Miller and said she would lead the audition.

Sejal stayed in the car as there was a parking problem and Patel took Roma inside. There were a couple of other families still auditioning when the doting father, his daughter snuggling in his arms, entered.

When it was their turn, the woman cooed over the baby for a few minutes. She told Patel she was the project director for the auditions and asked Patel to fill in a form with emergency numbers.

Then, very casually, she asked him if she could hold Roma and take her to the adjoining room to see how she reacts to strangers.

There is grief in Patel’s voice as he explains why he said yes.

“I didn’t have any reason to suspect her . . . and it was the door to a room,” he said. “I didn’t know she would disappear.”

Less than five minutes after she stepped into the other “room,” Patel peeked in.

It was empty.

A horrified Patel called police.

“I don’t know how Sejal and I spent that time . . . we didn’t know what would happen,” said Patel. “I kept thinking about what had happened and how did I go wrong.”

They were at the police station in Etobicoke when officers told them that a baby had been found in Scarborough. The Patels rushed there and were reunited with Roma.

At 3 a.m., there were copious tears and tight hugs as police officers watched.

The soft-spoken Patel says the reason he is talking about the incident he wants to forget is “so that no one else goes through what we did,” he said.

“It was a nightmare.”

Meanwhile, Gopaul, dressed in a sombre grey jacket and black pants, her shoulder-length hair dishevelled, looked glazed when she appeared at an Old City Hall courtroom on Saturday.

There were few people in the courtroom as she quietly spelled out her last name for the judge. Her arms folded across her chest, Gopaul briefly spoke to the duty counsel and exchanged a tentative smile with her aunt, Rita Gopaul.

Outside the court, Rita, her eyes brimming over, said her niece is very upset. “I can’t say anything . . . not until I speak to her parents.”

The accused woman’s parents live in New York and are flying to Toronto as soon as they can, said Rita.

She said Gopaul has family in Toronto and visited regularly.

Local media have reported that a few months ago, Gopaul, a singer-model, posted on her Facebook that she was pregnant.

Besides Rita, a young couple from Brampton was at the courthouse to see Gopaul. They alleged Gopaul tried to cajole them to give their 3-week-old girl to her briefly.

“There was something very strange about her,” said the mother, who did not want to be identified. “It was quite creepy.”