Maharashtra: Two months on, Mira Road cops find missing Satara boy in Punjab

Nearly two months after a 15-year-old boy went missing from Mira Road, the police managed to locate him in Amritsar, Punjab, on Sunday. According to the police, a suspected kidnap report was registered at the Mira Road police station after the boy went missing on June 17.

The boy had lost his parents three years ago, following which he stayed with his maternal aunt in Padli village of Karad in Satara. At the time he went missing, he was staying in Mira Road with the family of his mother's ex-employer (the boy’s mother worked as domestic help) who had extended a helping hand by sheltering him and funding his education. Sensing the seriousness of the case, the Mira Road police deputed special teams to locate the boy.

“After sustained efforts, our team led by police sub-inspector Snehal Tambde, on the virtue of mobile surveillance, got a lead that the boy was in Amritsar. The photo of the boy was then circulated and posters pasted at strategic locations in and around Amritsar. Last week, our team left for Punjab and managed to find the boy,” senior police inspector Vijaysingh Bagal of Mira Road police station said, adding that the team was helped by the Railway Police Force and child welfare committee in Amritsar.

Although the exact reason for his disappearance is yet to be ascertained, the police believe that the boy left home due to the pressure of his studies. A standard VII pass out, the boy had missed three years of education due to the demise of his parents and the Covid-induced lockdown.

He was enrolled as a tenth standard student of a school in Mira Road for the current academic session. The boy will soon be reunited with his kin, after completing legal formalities, police said.