10-yr-old child missing since 2010, reunited with family

A 10-year-old child, who had wandered away from his south Delhi residence two years ago, was officially reunited with his family on Tuesday, police said.

A 10-year-old child, who had wandered away from his south Delhi residence two years ago, was officially reunited with his family on Tuesday, police said. The child, Mohammad Adil (name changed), is the son of a stone-cutter who stays at Malviya Nagar’s Savitri Colony and, according to sources, had found himself in adjacent Gurgaon after hitching a ride on a JCB machine in mid-2010.

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“He was dropped off by the JCB driver metres away from the Delhi-Gurgaon border, at the Ghoda Chowk area, on the fateful day and a private executive, Azad, took him under his wing,” said a senior police officer.

Azad, police said, made several attempts to ascertain the boy’s identity over two years but couldn’t. So, he took him home and took care of him. On Sunday, when Azad and Adil were travelling on the former’s motorcycle, Azad stopped at a roadside helmet vendor’s shop in the Malviya Nagar area to get the visor of his helmet repaired.

“Adil told Azad that he remembered having been in the area before — which prompted Azad of making enquiries from local residents. When he asked the helmet vendor about the case of a missing child from the area, he was directed to a tea vendor in Savitri Colony,” the officer said.

Minutes later, the tea vendor, who had almost recognised Adil, took him and his guardian to Mohammad Iqbal, a stone-cutter, who turned out to be Adil’s father.