The long and restless wait for Hrithiksha, a school-going girl from Kushalnagar in Kodagu, finally ended on Thursday after she received her deceased mother’s mobile phone that went missing at the District COVID-19 Hospital in Madikeri in May this year. Her mother, Prabha, had succumbed to COVID-19 three months ago.
On knowing that her mother’s phone is missing, the girl’s heart-wrenching appeal for tracing the phone had gone viral in social media platforms, prompting the district administration to intervene. The girl said the phone had photographs of her and her mother, and the only means to recollect her memories.
Despite all efforts, the phone could not be traced, leaving the girl disappointed.
Along with her mother and her father, Hrithiksha, a Class 5 student of Gummanakolli village, had also tested positive for COVID-19. She and her father, Naveen Kumar T.R., a daily wage worker, were home isolated but her mother had to be shifted to the ICU ward at the District COVID-19 Hospital, Madikeri, for treatment. However, she succumbed to the infection on May 16.
Prabha’s phone went missing after her death. The girl immediately wrote a letter to the Deputy Commissioner, Kodagu, local legislators, and the hospital authorities seeking their help to trace the missing phone.
As her appeal went viral, the district administration intervened, asking the police and the Health Department to trace the phone. “The phone has memories of my mother. If anybody has taken it or anybody finds it, please return it to us,” the girl said, in her appeal.
The girl’s father had also lodged a complaint with the Kushalnagar police stating that his wife’s mobile phone along with the SIM card was lost in the hospital and requested them to locate it. The hospital authorities had also lodged the complaint with the Madikeri police for tracing the phone.
Three months after the phone went missing, the Medical Superintendent of the hospital under Kodagu Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) went to the Madikeri Police Station and handed over a smartphone, saying that it was found in the hospital’s store room. In a letter to the police, the official said the phone had pictures of Prabha and her daughter. The IMEI number of the phone and the phone that went missing were the same. On confirming the phone belonged to Prabha, the police contacted her family and told about tracing the phone, much to the delight of Hrithiksha.
Superintendent of Police Kshama Mishra gave away the phone to Hrithiksha at her office in Madikeri on Thursday. “My daughter is very happy to find her mother’s phone, at last,” Naveen said.
