Man regains memory after head injury, reunited with mother after 10 years

Suffering a head injury after falling in the bathroom helped a young man regain his memory and be reunited with his family after 10 long years. 

Sunil, 20, had gone missing when he was 10 years old. In 2006, a woman had found him strolling near the railway track in Maruthi Sevanagar in eastern Bengaluru. She went up to him and asked about his family. The boy couldn’t tell anything, except his name. 

The woman informed Srinivas, a field officer at Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), who admitted him to a children care centre run by the nonprofit in KG Halli. 

Some days later, Sunil told the warden that his mother had died after falling into a well and his father also died while trying to rescue her. He could not recall anything else, Srinivas told Deccan Herald. 

The care centre admitted Sunil to a school but he could not pass SSLC. “He told us that he was not interested in studies. So, we got him trained in installing CCTV cameras and he landed a job at a private company,” Srinivas said. 

Six months ago, Sunil suffered a head injury after falling in the bathroom. 

He was taken to a private hospital where doctors referred him to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans). He underwent treatment for a few weeks. When he returned to the children care centre, he was quiet and did not interact with anyone. 

When asked why he had become so reclusive, Sunil said he was now able to recall the names of his parents as Narayanappa and Shanthamma and the house where they lived. 

The searchSrinivas approached the Ramamurthy Nagar police. Srinivas and a policeman went looking for the house on Gas Godown Road near Kowdenahalli, where Sunil said he lived with his parents. Old residents told the police that the house was locked for more than eight years now. Before that, a couple was living there along with their son. The child went missing later and the mother became mentally disturbed. The family then moved out, said the Ramamurthy Nagar Inspector, V L Ramesh. 

“The residents gave the names of the couple who were working for a building contractor. But neither the contractor nor the current residence of the couple could be traced. 

“As we were hitting a dead-end, a local resident approached us, saying that the couple now lives in Mariyannapalya near Hennur. We went looking for them and traced Sunil’s mother Shanthamma. We asked her about her missing son. Her information was corroborated by Sunil as well as local residents,” Ramesh said. “We concluded that it was a genuine case.” 

Recognition difficultyWhen Shanthamma and Sunil were brought to the police station, they could not initially recognise each other. But the police refreshed their memory, and Sunil recognised her. After completing legal formalities, the woman and son were reunited and sent home.