The 10-year-old from Jharkhand, who ran away from home fearing his parents’ wrath for breaking a glass item, was found wandering alone at a funfair in Kalyan
Jharkhand native Devkumar Noniya (10) after being rescued by Bazarpeth police
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A 10-year-old boy from Jharkhand, who had run away from home, was rescued by the Bazarpeth police from Kalyan yesterday.
His questioning revealed that when he was wandering the streets in search of food, a man had come up to him, asked him his story, and promised to take care of him if he did as told. The man had tried to show him how to pick people’s pockets and asked him to start doing that in the funfair going on in Kalyan’s Durgadi fort for Navratri.
Such a long journey
The police said Devkumar Narayan Noniya, a Std II student, hails from Teen Pahad village in Jharkhand’s Sahebganj district. His father owns a sweet shop in the village.
He was found by Sub-Inspector Yogesh Gaikar and Constable Ujwala Ramasi. “On finding him sitting alone, the two questioned him and out came a story none of us could have imagined,” said Senior Inspector Dilip Suryavanshi.
He added that Devkumar said he was playing in his father’s shop on Saturday evening, when he accidentally broke a glass item. “Scared, he ran away and reached the nearest railway station. He was afraid of getting beaten up by his parents, and boarded a train and came to Thane on Monday. We are surprised at how he came all the way without running into a single ticket checker or railway policeman,” said Suryavanshi.
“He was roaming around Thane station in search of food, when he was seen by one Suresh, who gave him VIP treatment and asked him about his background. On learning that he was a runaway, he told him that he would show him an easy way to earn money.”
Suresh showed him how to pick pockets and flick mobile phones from people in a crowd and told him to start on Tuesday. “He brought the boy to the fair and asked him to steal. But Devkumar pleaded that he didn’t know how to and just spent the whole day roaming around looking for targets, too scared to act,” said Suryavanshi.
He was told to wait in a corner by Suresh when he was spotted by the officers. “The boy told us he was given R100 for the day. He had his mother’s number by heart. So, we called her up and informed what had happened. His parents are expected to reach on Thursday. We have sent him to the Bhiwandi remand home,” said Suryavanshi.
The Bazarpeth police are searching for Suresh, suspected to have initiated more minors into crime. “We are on the lookout for him. We are going over footage from CCTVs in Kalyan and Thane station to trace him at the earliest,” he added.
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