Mumbai: Cops make a good call, reunite teen with family

Separated from his family, mentally challenged boy scribbles close to 50 phone numbers and cops dial all of them before finally managing to track his father down

RPF cops spent five hours dialling over 40 phone numbers before they finally tracked down the father of Pratik Ambre (in green)

Two days after a 16-year-old mentally challenged boy went missing from his home in Goregaon, it was the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Karjat who answered the call of duty and reunited him with his family. As the boy could not remember his parent's phone number or communicate clearly, the cops sat with him for hours and dialled close to 50 phone numbers until they finally tracked his father down.

Around 9.30 am on September 15, the CST control room was informed that a boy had been found travelling alone and without a ticket on a train to Uttar Pradesh. "Acting on this information, Sub-Inspector Jaisingh and a police constable boarded the train at Karjat and escorted the teenager to the local RPF unit," said Satish Menon, senior inspector, Karjat RPF.

Drawing clues
During their interaction with him, the only thing he said was 'Aai'. "We realised that his mother tongue was probably Marathi, and began interacting with him in the same language," added Menon.

Pratik could not remember his parent's phone number or communicate clearly, but just kept scribbling different numbers on sheets of paper

When the cops realised that the boy was mentally challenged, they handed him a blank sheet of paper, on which he began doodling. They tried to coax him to reveal details about his family, but all the boy did was to scribble numbers on the page. In the hope that this would lead them to his parents, the cops spent the next five hours dialling all the numbers. Each time, it turned out to be a wrong number, but despite this, the cops did not call it quits.

Five hours later, the cops finally struck gold. One of the numbers scribbled on the page had indeed turned out to be the contact number of his father. "We contacted his father, who identified the boy as Pratik Ambre, 16-year-old resident of Aarey Colony, unit number 16. We learnt that Pratik has special needs and that he is a Std VIII student. he had gone missing on September 13 and a missing complaint was registered at Aarey police station. The very same day, we handed over the child to his father," said Menon.

Together again
Thrilled to be reunited with his son, dairy worker Ambadas Ambre (42) told this reporter that this was not the first time the minor had gone missing. He had also disappeared a month ago, but was found the same day inside Aarey Colony. "We are thankful that the RPF officials help us find our son. He was watching a movie at home and his mother was busy in household work, but he suddenly went missing. We searched for him in Aarey, but couldn't find him. He knows my number, but couldn't recollect it," said Ambre, adding that he has now tattooed his phone number on the boy's arm so that such situations are avoided in the future.

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