When the Kannur Town police personnel picked up a man found rummaging through a garbage bin looking for food, they never imagined that they would end up finding a very well-educated person, who left his home in Tamil Nadu 15 yearsa ago.
Stinking and poorly dressed with a long beard and looking weak, 36-year-old Velayudhan, a native of Palayamkottai, has a degree in Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Planning and Management in Chennai. He also claimed that he had studied with Tamil actor Sivakarthikeyan during his MBA.
It was Kannur Town police CircIe Inspector Pradeepan Kannipoyil who found Velayudhan eating food from the garbage at a place adjoining the Town police station here. He wanted to offer him food under the Town police station's project “Hunger-Free Town” launched for handing out food packets to the destitute. To his surprise, the police officer found that the mendicant was speaking fluent English.
“The scene really moved us all and we felt sorry for him and he surprised everyone by fluently speaking in English and talking about things related to global warming and other issues,” said Mr. Kannipoyil who brought him to the station and questioned him.
The police found something special about him and did not want to leave him on the street again. During the questioning, Mr. Velayudhan revealed his identity and his past. He seemed to be a bit mentally unstable and disturbed, the police said.
Mr. Velayudhan revealed that he had left home 15 years ago and had been living on the streets, begging for money and eating food from temples where it was served. After roaming in various States, he had reached Kannur and was getting food from the police, who served the food under the Hunger-Free Town project. However, the police served food under the scheme only once a day.
The police here contacted the Palayamkottai police and also the institute where he had studied to confirm his identity. The family was contacted and his relatives are expected to come to Kannur and take home to end his long ordeal, the police said.
