A 26-year-old mentally ill man from West Bengal allegedly fled from his home without informing his parents and landed in Vadodara where police took care of him and made efforts to reunite him with his family.
Surjit Sarkar, a resident of Boratalikhola village in south Bengal district and holding class II post in a WB-based power distribution company, went missing from his home on November 22.
Apparently on the advice of his friends, he flew to Vadodara on November 22 without informing his parents and then took a taxi to Chandod, a religious town about 50 kms from here, to seek a cure from some saints for his mental illness.
However, some boat owners observed him behaving in an unusual manner on the banks of Narmada river there and informed Chandod police station sub-inspector J M Waghela about him.
"I approached him at the ghat (river bank) and brought him to the police station and asked him the purpose of his visit to the town. We allowed him to stay in the premises of the police station as he declined my offer of accommodating him elsewhere," Waghela told PTI.
"After securing details of his parents and their contact number, I called up his father Subhash Sarkar on phone on December 2 informing him about the safe custody of their missing son at the police station in Chandod," he said.
Surjit's parents conveyed to Waghela that they would come to Chandod to take back their son.
However, on December 5, the youth disappeared from the police station, and next day his parents arrived. The local police then formed four teams to trace him, but in vain.
His parents decided to stay back in Chandod to trace their son by looking for him at various temples and ashrams on the banks of Narmada.
"We made arrangements for their stay. They stayed at the home of a policeman here," Waghela said.
As the anxious parents were searching for their son, they received a call on December 8 from Surjit's grandmother at their native village that he had returned home.
The Sarkar family left the place on December 9, and the next day they called up the Chandod police informing that their son had come back home.
Surjit's family members thanked Waghela, District Superintendent of Police Sharad Singhal and Inspector General of Police, Vadodara range, Anup Sinh Gehlot for all their cooperation and help.
"We had lost all hope of being reunited with my missing brother. We have no words to thank the police officials for their help," Surjit's 22-year-old sister Priya said.
