Missing autistic teen Tarun Gupta's father turns to godman

Tarun Gupta's father sticking his missing posters in Vilavade (Ratnagiri), Solapur, Nanded

After spending lakhs and almost a year searching for his missing autistic son via the police, RPF, private detectives, Vinod Kumar Gupta, the hapless father of 16-year-old Tarun Gupta has now turned to help towards a godman based in the forests of Madhya Pradesh.

On September 5, Vinod, along with two of his friends Jai Chauhan and Babloo Sheikh embarked on a journey via a private car to search for Tarun in the interiors of Maharashtra as well as parts of adjoining states. The trio returned back to Mumbai on Saturday, after having covered a total of 4,700 km.

Search began in Solapur

The trio began their search with Solapur, Nanded and travelled further down to Itarsi, Jabalpur and Chattarpur in Madhya Pradesh. It was at this last district where things took a mystical turn, claims Vinod. "I was told about a very revered godman who sits in the forests near Chattarpur," he said, speaking with mid-day.

"People had to take tokens and wait in line to speak with him. He did not charge any money for solving these people's problems," Vinod said.

A file photo of Tarun Gupta

Waited for two days

"The three of us waited there for two days and on the second day, he called me. Without me saying anything, he, as if reading my mind, said that he knew I had come to ask about my missing son. He told me that Tarun is safe and asked me not to search for him far from home as he was in a 150-200 km radius in and around Mumbai."

Also Read: 'Don't fear virus, only fear for Tarun's safety,' says missing teen's father

Vinod says that he believes that there is an outer chance that Tarun was being taken care of by some small-time factory/business owner who has employed him and/or was taking care of him.

"I have spent lakhs of rupees to locate my son, but none of that has had any tangible outcome yet," he said, adding that him, Babloo and Jai would be resting in Mumbai for a week and then, after dividing the MIDC region into 200 km quadrants, embark on the search for Tarun once again.

"After Madhya Pradesh, we went towards Karnataka and stopped at every train station on the way back to Mumbai from Goa onwards.

"The police and RPF are well versed with Tarun's case in Goa and they told us that they weren't any reports of his sighting. However, I am relieved now because I know my son is safe and healthy," he added.

4,700km
Distance Gupta and his friends covered via road looking for Tarun

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