Thane: A septuagenarian man, who had gone missing from Kapurbawdi here, was rescued from Bhiwandi in the district by a local resident and handed over to police, who reunited him with his family, officials said on Thursday. The sequence of events unfolded on Monday.
"A local resident spotted the old man sitting by the roadside in Bhiwandi on July 29. He was shivering as he was completely drenched due to heavy rains. He could not reveal his identity and address properly," Mamta D'Souza, senior inspector of Shanti Nagar police station in Bhiwandi, said.
"The old man had fever. The local resident handed over the elderly person to police, after which he was rushed to a local hospital," she said. Thereafter, the police started making inquiries about where he was from. They somehow came to know that his name is Ramrao Dapkekar, 70, and he hailed from Mukhed in Nanded district in Maharashtra.
Another official said, "Fortunately, a constable from Shanti Nagar police station was from Nanded, who got in touch with the villagers there and sent the picture of the old man on WhatsApp. Soon, he was informed that although the man was from Nanded, he has been residing in Thane city since the last few years."
The police managed to get the number of Dapkekar's son and contacted him over phone, who told them that he had filed a missing person's complaint about his father with Kapurbawdi police station on July 19, he said.
"His son then rushed to the police station and took custody of his father. It was an emotional moment for the father-son duo as well as the police personnel," the official added.
