Mentally unwell woman from Bihar found in Maharashtra; reunited with kin

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A 35-year-old mentally ill woman who had been missing from her home in Bihar for several years has been reunited with her family thanks to a Maharashtra-based humanitarian group.

Khusboo Devi, of Sayyadpur village in Begusarai district, Bihar, was found on a street in Murud, Latur district, on July 1, 2023, with injuries to her head and body, reported PTI.

According to the report, Rahul Patil Chakurkar, a member of the Religion to Responsibility Foundation, and Murud deputy sarpanch Hanumant Nagtilak assisted with her identification and care.

After receiving initial treatment at a hospital in Latur, the woman was transported to the Divya Seva Sankalp shelter home in Buldhana district for additional care, the report added.

According to the news agency report, after regaining her health, she divulged information about her hometown, which led to the finding of her family with the help of a Bihar-based nongovernmental organisation.

The woman was reunited with her family in Bihar after being separated for an extended period of time thanks to the Buldhana-based NGO, the report added.

Man reunited with family after 19 years

In another incident from 2022, Bateshwar Pannalal Jaiswal, a 70-year-old Cuffe Parade man, was reunited with his wife and three sons after 19 years of missing from their Ambedkar Nagar house. Jaiswal went missing in 2003, causing his wife, Pushpa, to submit a missing person report at the Cuffe Parade Police Station. Despite police efforts, he remained undetected due to a lack of clues and valuable CCTV evidence, a mid-day report stated.

The report stated that Pushpa never gave up hope. In 2015, she acquired a police document verifying Jaiswal's status as missing.

Pushpa received a call from an unknown number in November 2022, and the caller claimed to be her spouse but was unable to locate her. She quickly notified the local police, who began a search based on technical facts.

The call was tracked to Mohit Hospital in Borivli East, where a police team led by ASI Arvind Sawant found Jaiswal, who was employed as a guard. Using minimal information, the police recognised him with the assistance of his family, who knew him from images.

Jaiswal reportedly left his home after a disagreement with his wife over domestic concerns. He had been working as a guard at Borivli and had some health problems. He recently got his wife's phone number from someone in Cuffe Parade, which led to their reconciliation.

Jaiswal's family suffered during his absence, as his youngest son was barely 20 when he left home. The police have offered Jaiswal counselling and arranged for a psychologist to help him adjust.