Boy found in train reunited with family (Second lead)

CHENNAI - A young boy, Mohammed Fazlu, separated from his parents in April apparently after he boarded a train to look for his ball, will be celebrating Eid with his family. The nine-year-old was in a shelter in Tamil Nadu after making the accidental train journey, but his parents turned up Thursday to take him home.

The boy has been lodged at the Government Reception Unit in Vellore.

“Fazlu’s father Ghouse Basha and mother Dilshad have come here. The identity of the parents has been checked. The boy will be handed over to them,” K. Ganesan, who is in-charge of the shelter home, told IANS over phone.

According to C. Ramesh, president of Udavum Ullangal in Tirupatthur near Vellore, Fazlu was handed over to them by the Railway Police April 27, 2010.

“The Railway Police found him travelling alone in the Mumbai-Kanyakumari Express. We had kept him at the home till April 30. On enquiry he gave the names of his parents, sisters as well as that of his neighbours,” Ramesh said.

Till now it was assumed that the boy was from Mumbai where he boarded the train. But his parents told the police that they lived near Bangalore.

Apart from Hindi, Fazlu also spoke Kannada and at times gave confusing answers, Ramesh said.

Not able to get any concrete information about the boy’s parents, Udavum Ullangal handed over Fazlu to a shelter for boys run by the state government in Vellore.

According to Fazlu, the ball he was playing with landed inside the stationary Mumbai-Kanyakumari Express. The train started moving when he went inside. Fazlu finally hid under a seat and was sleeping when the Railway Police found him at Jollarpettai near Vellore.