A 34-year-old Nepali, who was found wandering the streets of the city, has been reunited with his family. On Tuesday, he left for Chennai from Mangaluru along with his father and a relative.
Manoj Kadukha had disappeared from his home town in Nepal more than three years ago and was found near Mangaladevi temple here about three months ago. He was found wandering near Morgan’s Gate when a localite, Ganesh D., informed the police, who took him to the Snehalaya Psycho Social Rehabilitation Centre, Pavoor, Manjeswaram — a border town of Kasaragod district in Kerala. His condition improved at the centre, and Kalpana Regmi, a Nepali student at Yenepoya Medical College, began talking to him to find out where he came from. She sent photos of Mr. Kadukha on WhatsApp to her husband, who was able to trace his family.
There was an emotional reunion at the rehabilitation centre when his father, Lakshman Kadukha, landed at Manjeswaram. “It was a moment for Snehalaya (people) to cry,” said the founder of the centre, Joseph Crasta. The family had searched for him in vain and concluded that he was no more.
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Mr. Crasta said Mr. Kadukha needed further care and that he had recommended a centre in Ranchi where he could be admitted before the family decided on its future course of action. As he is a foreign national, permission was obtained from the police and the Department of Social Justice of Kerala before discharging him from the centre.
Mr. Crasta said the centre had, so far, united 82 people with their families in its five years of existence.