Missing Mumbai teen found in Kerala, reunited with parents after 10 days

A 13-year-old boy who ran away from his home in Mumbai, after his mother scolded him, has been reunited with his family after ten days.

The boy, whose family resides in Mumbai’s Goregaon area, was traced and rescued from Kerala.

On December 4, the teenager travelled from his home to Vakola to meet his mother, who worked as domestic help there. The boy’s father, an employee at a private firm, had gone for work and was not aware that his son had left home.

When his mother learnt that he had travelled alone to Vakola, she reprimanded him for his action. The boy, upset over the scolding, took a bus from Vakola and reached Kurla.

He then travelled to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) in Kurla and boarded a Thiruvananthapuram-bound train.

When their son did not return home, the parents approached Vakola police to file a missing person’s complaint. Police started by examining the CCTV footage of the area but failed to locate the boy.

While the search was underway, cops instructed the parents to alert them in case they received any call or even a missed call from an unknown number.

The tip proved useful as the mother received a missed call from an unknown number on December 12. As instructed, she brought the call to the attention of Vakola police station’s senior inspector Kailash Awhad.

When Awhad dialled the number, a man picked up the call on the other side and said a boy, who seemed clueless, gave the woman’s number to him.

The man also informed Awhad that he was speaking from Thiruvananthapuram and the boy did not know the local language. The cop then posed as the boy’s father and requested him to keep ‘his son’ safe until he reaches there.

A team of Mumbai Police officials then rushed to Thiruvananthapuram and rescued the boy. He was brought back to Mumbai and reunited with his parents last Saturday.