Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday directed Director General of Police K. B. Singh to trace Babuli Panda, the grandson of freedom fighter Laxmi Indira Panda, after he got separated from his parents at the Bhubaneswar railway station.
The parents were among those felicitated for their relation to the fight against colonialism by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday.
Surendra Panda, son of Laxmi Indira Panda, a member of the Azad Hind Fauj, and his wife Sujata Panda were invited to Raj Bhavan where Mr. Modi felicitated descendants of 16 families associated with the armed rebellion against British colonialism, known as the Paika rebellion of 1817, and other freedom struggles of Odisha. After the function, the couple and their son were at the station to board the Hirakhand Express around 7.35 pm the same day to return to their native place in Jeypore in the Koraput district. After
Mr. Panda, in his sixties, returned from the rest room, he could not find his wife and son and he missed the train. Mr. Panda waited at the station till Monday morning and took a train in the evening to Jeypore, hoping they would have reached their home.
Co-passenger’s help
However, it later emerged that Sujata too was waiting at the station till Monday. It was not clear how Babuli got separated from his parents. She then mistakenly boarded the Kalinga Utkal Express in the evening.
Noticing a distressed Ms. Panda, Debapriya Samal, a co-passenger, informed the Government Railway Police of the situation. The police informed administration, who in turn alerted the Chief Minister’s office. Mr. Patnaik directed the Balasore Collector to assign an official to escort Sujata to her place. However, the police had not been able to gather any information about the boy.
