Navi Mumbai: Three years ago, Aniket Bangar, an engineering student, ran away from home because he feared he had done badly in his exams. He was reunited with his family by the Anti-Human-Trafficking Unit (AHTU), Navi Mumbai.
Aniket , then 17, was studying mechanical engineering, but in the second year, he was finding it difficult. “After the exam, he knew he was going to fail in two subjects, and hence fled from home even before the results were out in December 2014,” Senior Police Inspector Anand Chavan said. The police followed leads to Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Delhi and Haryana. “We searched among transporters, as we thought that since his father was one, he might join some similar company, maybe as a supervisor,” Police Sub-Inspector Sanjay Kshirsagar from AHTU said. They got an unexpected lead from someone in Gujarat who had worked with Aniket and said he had joined Jyoti Roadlines in Kalamboli.
The Gujarat contact gave the police a phone number he had for Aniket. “The number was not being used by him any more,” Mr. Kshirsagar said, “But he still had that number on WhatsApp, so were able to show the display picture to his parents, who identified him. Once we were sure that the tip we received was about the same person, we contacted Jyoti Roadlines, who informed us that he had gone to Gujarat to pick up a load and was expected back in few days.”
When Aniket returned to Kalamboli on Monday, the AHTU and his family were waiting for him.
Aniket later said that he had saved ₹2.5 lakh working as driver for different transport companies; he had planned to buy a truck before returning to his family.
