COIMBATORE: A 17-year-old boy with an intellectual disability has gone missing under mysterious circumstances from Universal Peace Foundation, a private shelter home near Annur in Coimbatore, weeks after the murder of another youth with a similar disability at a care home in Pollachi. The Annur police have registered a case and launched a search to trace the boy, identified as Vikram, whose antecedents are unknown.
The boy has been missing for over a fortnight but the shelter home personnel lodged a missing complaint at the Annur station only on Wednesday, leading to a joint investigation on Friday by officials attached to the department of Welfare of Differently Abled Persons and the District Child Protection Unit.
Police said Vikram was rescued a few months ago and sent to an integrated rehabilitation home at Nallagoundenpalayam that houses destitute children, elderly persons, women, and people with disabilities. The facility currently has 402 residents.
According to the complaint, Vikram and seven other inmates were taken to a vocational training centre at A Kumarapalayam, about six kilometres from the shelter. On May 10, while returning from the centre, Vikram went missing. Sources said the shelter home authorities initially conducted a search on their own but failed to trace him.
They filed a police complaint only on May 28. The disappearance was also not reported to the Department of Welfare of Differently Abled Persons, as required. “Nobody knows the boy’s personal details, but everyone refers to him as Vikram. He speaks Tamil. The shelter home management has been instructed to intensify the search in the area where he went for training and around the shelter,” police sources said.