Missing for 2 years, 10-yr-old boy found in Karnataka

CBD BELAPUR: A 10-year-old boy, who had been missing for two years, was finally found at Gulbarga in Karnataka.

The child, Santosh Dhotre, a resident of Turbhe naka, had been missing since September 2013.

The Navi Mumbai antihuman trafficking unit circulated his picture in child reform centre in Dhotre’s home state of Karnataka after the case was transferred to them in February this year.

Police inspector Pushpalata Dighe said, “The description that was sent out matched that of a child at a child reform centre in Gulbarga.”

On receiving confirmation from them, the police completed the requisite formalities and got the child back to the city and handed him over to his parents.

The police will talk to the boy to find out how he ended up at the welfare centre in Karnataka.

The police said Santosh had along with his father Babu Dhotre gone to Turbhe naka to see his grandfather off, who was going back to his native place.

He wanted to go with his grandfather. However, his father did not let him go, said an officer.

“According to the father’s complaint to the Turbhe MIDC police station, Santosh had walked ahead of him while returning to their home from Turbhe naka, but he did not reach home,” said the officer.

“He feared that someone had abducted him.”

After investigations, when the child was still not traced, the case was transferred to the anti-human trafficking unit of the Navi Mumbai crime branch on February 13 this year.

They then searched for the child at railway stations, orphanages and child welfare centres of Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, till he was discovered in a child reform centre in Gulbarga, Karnataka.