A PANCHKULA man Thursday reunited a 17-year-old missing boy from Garhwal with his family with his own efforts while he received merely assurances of help from the Anti-Human Traffic Unit (AHTU) of Panchkula police and Chandigarh Police as well. The missing boy, identified as Gaurav Singh, who had gone missing from Mohali on January 3, was found distressed and abandoned near Sector 5, Panchkula, by Ajay Kumar Sharma, a resident of Sector 11, Panchkula, on February 23. He was reunited with his mother Usha Devi and maternal uncle Bhag Singh, who stay in Phase-3, Mohali. "The boy was disoriented. He was not able to divulge his name, address and anything about his parents properly. He was only replying that he is from Tehari Garhwal. I had approached many authorities, including Panchkula police, Chandigarh Police etc, but did not get any satisfactory response. Many times I called 112. I decided to keep the child with me and informed my area police post in Sector 10, Panchkula, about the boy. I also approached AHTU of Chandigarh Police over the phone. A woman police personnel noted down the particulars of Gaurav but expressed her helplessness that she has not found any DDR or report about the missing boy. Believe me, once the boy told us about his mother and maternal uncle's location in Mohali. I hired an autorickshaw and proceeded towards Mohali but returned as there were huge barricades installed to stop protesters near the Mattour barrier. Three days back, I managed to contact the Superintendent of Police of Tihari Garhwal. By that time, Gaurav spelled the name of his native village. The Garhwal police personnel contacted me over the phone, noted down the village name of Gaurav and in the evening, I received a call of village pardhan, who told me that Gaurav's mother is in Mohali, and she was conveyed about the whereabouts of her missing son," said Ajay Kumar Sharma of Sector 11. Usha Devi along with her husband Bhag Singh and nephew Rohit Singh came to the house of A K Sharma and took Gaurav's custody. Rohit Singh, cousin of Gaurav Singh, said, "We have not left any stone unturned in search of Gaurav. First two days, we searched on our own and later, we hoped that he might have gone to his native village in Tehari Garhwal. But when his father Tejpal Singh told us that Gaurav was not there, we lodged a DDR at Mattour police station. Yesterday, we received a call from the village pardhan telling us about the whereabouts of Gaurav in Panchkula. We did not waste a single moment and contacted Ajay Kumar Singh. Today, we went there and found Gaurav there. We have informed the Mohali police about the development. Gaurav is yet to recollect where he had stayed for one month."
