Missing Udupi boy traced to Mumbai through Facebook posts after three years

UDUPI: A boy was reunited with his foster father recently in Udupi three years after he went missing. Prem Kiran (now 13 years old) was found living in Kalbadevi, Mumbai by Udupi police and was brought to Udupi to meet his foster father Sridhar K Ameen.

Udupi police had been looking for Prem Kiran after Sridhar complained to Manipal police on January 31, 2015. He had stated that his foster son Prem Kiran could have been kidnapped after he went to a playground in Manipal on the evening on January 20, 2015. Police had booked a case under section 363 of IPC suspecting abduction.

Prem Kiran is a resident of HUDCO colony in Manipal. District Crime Branch (DCB) cop Rathnakumar G, an officer in the anti-human trafficking cell investigated the case and found the boy being active on Facebook.

‘‘Prem Kumar wanted to live on his own as he was not interested in studies. So he went to Mumbai to earn money to lead his life. We traced him after Bengaluru police found that Prem Kumar had uploaded a picture on his Facebook account. Based on it, Manipal and Bengaluru cops led a joint operation to trace the boy to Mumbai,’’ police said. He was escorted back to Manipal. The boy gave statement to the police that he was not abducted and he was never involved in any anti-social activities, but worked in a canteen.