Noida boy missing since 2015 found in separate abduction case probe

Hindustan Times

a day ago

A 17-year-old boy who disappeared from his Noida home in 2015 was finally reunited with his family nearly a decade later on Tuesday after being discovered during investigations into a separate child abduction case in Faridabad on June 2, officials said.
The teenager was identified through distinctive physical marks—a severed middle finger on his right hand and a scar below his left eye—after his facial appearance had changed significantly over nine years.
The incident came to light as part of Faridabad police's investigation into the May 28 kidnapping of a seven-year-old boy from Dayal Bagh area. CCTV footage led them to suspect Mangal Kumar, who had taken the child to Lucknow.
During interrogation, Mangal revealed he abducted the child to raise as his own. Police then learned from locals about a 17-year-old boy living with Mangal who had appeared 'from nowhere.'
'Mangal had the boy's Aadhaar card in his name and told everyone he was his son,' said ASI Mahesh Phogat of Faridabad crime branch. 'But locals informed us that Mangal's wife had left him and he had no children, so we counselled the boy.'
The teenager had believed Mangal was his father, but after counselling agreed to help locate his biological parents.
9 years of searching
The boy's elder brother, 25, who lives in Bhangel, Noida, received the call Monday evening. 'Initially, I took it casually as we visited Gautam Budh Nagar police stations more than 150 times in the last 10 years,' he said.
Despite facial changes, the brother identified him through the severed finger—injured when their younger sister was using a chaff cutter—and the eye mark from when their aunt threw a utensil in anger.
The family had nearly lost hope. 'Around a year back, we stopped visiting police stations,' the brother said. Their parents had moved to their native town in Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, after both daughters married.
The boy told his family that after getting lost returning from school in 2015, he reached Badarpur in Delhi, where Mangal took him to Faridabad. He lived first with Mangal, then with Mangal's brother Raju Kumar, receiving no formal education.
Mangal, who is childless and estranged from his wife, kept the boy without attempting to locate his family.
Faridabad police initially struggled to verify the teenager's identity with Noida authorities. 'Due to lack of support from local police, we returned and asked the boy to identify the place where he went missing,' said ASI Phogat.
Eventually, Phase 2 SHO Vindyachal Tiwari assisted the investigation. 'We checked all records from the last 10 years, but due to name changes, it was difficult to find the exact case,' Tiwari said. 'After extensive checking, we found similarities and contacted the complainant.'
A missing person report was filed at Phase 2 police station on November 8, 2015. After seven years of investigation without success, the case was closed on December 20, 2022.
The parents arrived from Manipur Tuesday morning for the emotional reunion. 'They were so happy to see him,' the brother said. 'We had responded to every child recovery identification since 2015.'
The case highlights both the challenges of long-term missing person investigations and the importance of inter-district police cooperation in resolving such cases.