Navi Mumbai: The two-and-a-half-year-old Sai Ravindra Patil who was missing since Thursday evening from his maternal uncle’s house at Pendhar village in Taloja, was on Saturday found outside a steel factory in Taloja MIDC area and reunited with his family. “The cries of a child from the back of a factory, alerted workers at around 8.30 a.m. On seeing the the boy crying they alerted the police. We reached the spot along with his family, who identified him. He was taken to hospital for medical check up,” senior police inspector Ravindra Budhwant from Taloja police said.
The gold earrings he was wearing was found intact, and there were no injury marks, the police said. “The doctors said there were mosquito bites on his torso and no food in his stomach. He seems to have just wandered off, and lost his way,” Mr. Budhwant said. The factory is shut on Fridays due to which the child was not spotted till this morning.
A resident of Palaspa, Panvel, the boy and his mother had come to his uncle’s house on Tuesday for a village fair. On Thursday evening, after he was not to be seen anywhere, the family and villagers started looking for him and later registered a FIR at around 11.30 p.m. of kidnapping against unidentified men.
Born after four years of marriage, the boy’s parents, who had spent sleepless nights since Thursday, heaved a sigh of relief on Saturday. “He can’t even tell his own name, how can he explain to us what happened that evening. Whatever happened, police needs to find out. Right now, we are just thankful he is back safe,” said Satish Patil, his uncle.
