A teenage boy, who went missing four years ago, was recently reunited with his family in Taloja owing to the efforts of the Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Navi Mumbai Police.
A child with special needs, Dhanush Pawar (name changed) was 10 years old when he went missing from Pendhar village on July 8, 2016. His parents had left for work leaving Dhanush at home with his three siblings and found him missing when they returned. On failing to find him, they had filed a case of kidnapping with the Taloja police on July 14 that year.
Senior police inspector Arjun Garad, AHTU, said, “Our teams were in touch with children’s homes in all States and a month ago, we learnt about a boy who has been in a children’s home in Udupi since July 2016. We exchanged photos and the parents identified him.”
However, the police could not reunite Dhanush with his family owing to the lockdown. “Due to travel restrictions, we could not take the boy to his family, but they kept in touch over phone. Fortunately, the boy was able to remember his family members,” Mr. Garad said.
On June 29, the police reached the children’s home along with the parents and brought Dhanush back home. The police said that Dhanush might have accidentally boarded a train from Panvel railway station, which is the nearest one to Taloja, and reached Udupi. Volunteers at the children’s home said that they found Dhanush wandering on the streets on July 9, 2016.
On April 29 this year, a 17-year-old girl from Taloja went missing and was found in Taloja phase II along with 23-year-old Ajay Pandey on June 30. Mr. Pandey was arrested by AHTU and handed over to the Taloja police.
