UDUPI: Thirteen years after a 16-year-old PUC student from Mundkur, Karkala, went missing, Udupi police found him in Bengaluru. Ananthakrishna Prabhu, who left home on December 6, 2012, saying he was going to a temple and never returned, is now 29 years old and happy to be reunited with his family.
When Prabhakar Prabhu’s son did not return home that day, he filed a missing person complaint at Karkala Rural police station.
Udupi SP Hariram Shankar said the boy reportedly left home after making a mistake during his school exams and was afraid to inform his family. “He worked for two years at a factory in Sakleshpur, where his employer supported him financially to continue his education. He is now employed as an interior designer in Bengaluru,” the SP said.
His family, overwhelmed with emotion after their only son returned home, said, “On the day he went missing, people saw him travelling by bus. We searched for him in many places and kept praying all these years. We still cannot believe that the police have actually found him.”
Prabhakar Prabhu runs a shop in Mundkur, and is part of the local temple administration. Two years ago, the call of his roots grew strong, and Ananthakrishna Prabhu felt like visiting Mundkur to see his parents. He returned quietly and saw them from afar, though they did not see him.
All missing children cases kept open: SP
Ananthakrishna had a dream -- that he should build his own house, buy a car and then come home. A special investigation team was formed specifically to reopen and probe the 13-year-old case, and trace other children who have gone missing in the past 15 years.
Police traced Ananthakrishna, armed with an old photograph that matched his Aadhaar card photo. Police had known through their network that a person in Bengaluru had sheltered him. Holding on to that thin thread and pursuing multiple leads, police confirmed that Ananthakrishna was living in Bengaluru and traced his address.
SP Shankar said all missing children cases are kept open and transferred to the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit in the CID after one year, to trace the children. PSI Eranna and PSI Sudarshan, along with six other staffers have been doing this for a year and a half, he added.