Representative image of parents holding a child's hand.
Credit: iStock Image.
Mumbai: A 24-year-old youth who went missing from Beed district in Maharashtra nearly eight years ago was reunited with his parents last week.
The meeting took place at the office of Beed Superintendent of Police Navneet Kanwat. The youth was identified as Raju Mali.
Due to their illiteracy and lack of resources, the couple did not file a police complaint, leaving his whereabouts unknown for years. Raju, who had been staying with a teacher, left school one day in December 2017 and did not return.
In 2023, his mother lodged a missing person complaint at Pimpalner police station in Beed. The case was later transferred to the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) and assigned to officer Pallavi Jadhav, who contacted the boy’s parents, teachers, and friends.
Working with the local Crime Branch, led by Shriram Khatawkar, Jadhav traced the youth within a month. Investigations revealed that after leaving Beed, Raju worked as a security guard in Pune, learned metal fabrication, and later moved to Gujarat for employment. He returned to Pune a week ago, where police persuaded him to meet his parents.
“The boy feared being scolded for dropping out,” Jadhav said.
When the couple saw their son in the SP’s office, they broke down and embraced him.