Lost Mumbai boy might celebrate Eid with family

CHENNAI - Lost Mumbai boy Mohammed Fazlu just might celebrate Eid with his family. The nine-year-old has been staying at a shelter in Tamil Nadu after making an accidental train journey, but a couple claiming to be his parents turned up Thursday to take him home.

He was separated from his parents in April apparently after he boarded a train in Mumbai to look for his ball, following which the train chugged off to Vellore. He has been lodged at the Government Reception Unit in Vellore.

“A couple claiming to be Fazlu’s parents - Ghouse Basha and mother Dilshad - have come here. We are in discussion with them now. On ascertaining facts, the child welfare committee will meet in the afternoon and decide on handing over the boy,” 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.

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 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.

–Indo Asian News Service