The Thane police, through a collaborative effort with a hospital in Thane, and the Madhya Pradesh police, reunited a 17-year-old specially-abled boy from Ujjain, with his family, officials said. Police said that the boy, who had been missing for nearly three years, from his home in MP, was reportedly found wandering barefoot and in tattered clothes on the streets in Thane in August 2022.

The case came to light after a local resident alerted the Child Welfare Commission (CWC) about a ‘homeless’ boy under Thane’s Kasarvadavli police jurisdiction. The CWC took custody of the boy and told the police to trace his origins. Initially identified under a different name, the boy was placed in a children’s home. However, during a medical evaluation, he exhibited symptoms of schizophrenia and other psychotic conditions, prompting authorities to transfer him to the Thane Mental Hospital.