He ran away from Thane home fearing failure in Class IX exams

A resident of Vasant Vihar in Thane, who went missing in 2015, was traced and reunited with his parents on Wednesday afternoon.

During the four-year-long investigation, three people were arrested and the boy’s family filed a writ petition accusing the police of dragging their feet in the case.

Thane Crime Branch officers said Sumedh Chandra went missing on March 27, 2015, and his parents registered a complaint with the Vartak Nagar police. On April 1, they received a ransom call demanding ₹1 lakh.

Matching voice samples

A Thane Crime Branch officer said, “We arrested two accused in connection with the incident but the boy was not found. The accused said they saw a poster about the missing boy at Thane railway station and used the opportunity to make a fast buck. In March 2017, we arrested Kalim Ansari, a civil contractor who carried out repairs at the boy’s house. The father named him as a suspect and a test of his voice sample matched with man who made the ransom call.”

Mr. Chandra then filed a writ in the Bombay High Court alleging that the Thane Police were not putting their best efforts to find his son. He requested that the case be transferred to an independent agency like the Mumbai Crime Branch or the Central Bureau of Investigation. The court, however, decided to let the Thane Crime Branch continue with their investigation. Assistant Commissioner of Police Bharat Shelke, Thane Crime Branch, who was heading the case, retired in 2018 and Senior Police Inspector Ravindra Daundkar, Anti Human Trafficking Cell, took over the probe.

Crucial bank link

Mr. Daundkar said, “Earlier this month, we received information that a boy who fled from home was working with a caterer in Nerul on a daily wage basis. We found that the boy had assumed the name Mohan and recently opened an account with a bank in Nerul. We sought information from the bank and found that the account was opened in the name of Sumedh Chandra.”

Acting on the police’s instructions, the branch manager called the boy up and told him to come to the branch as he had failed to sign a document. When the boy did not turn up on Tuesday, the manager said his account would be suspended if he did not visit the bank on Wednesday. Anti Human Trafficking Cell officers in plainclothes waited outside the bank on Wednesday morning and took the boy into custody when he turned up. The boy revealed his identity and admitted that he ran away from his house four years ago.

From Nashik to Nerul

Mr. Daundkar said, “The boy said that he ran away from home as he was sure he was going to fail in Class IX examinations and was afraid of his father’s reaction to it. He first went to Nashik, where he worked at a dhaba for a few months. The owner had seen his picture on television but continued to employ him without informing the police.” The boy then got in touch with a friend from Nerul and started working for the caterer.