Facebook Helps Reunite Missing Boy With His Mother After 8 Years

The Facebook profile of the boy, now a young man, came to the notice of his mother by chance. He was found at Ranakala village in Amritsar district. He went missing 8 years ago from Rachakonda, Telengana.

Outlook Web Bureau

Updated on: 4 April 2019 1:09 pm

Social media platform, Facebook helped to reunite a mother in Telangana with her son who had gone missing eight years ago, police said.

The boy, whose Facebook profile came to the notice of his mother by chance, was found at Ranakala village in Amritsar district, after Cyber Crime sleuths traced the internet protocol address of the network used by him, Rachakonda Police Police Commissioner, Mahesh M Bhagwat said.

"Earlier in the year 2011, a woman by name Susanna had lodged a missing complaint about her eight-year-old son Dinesh Jena in Khushaiguda police station. At that time a missing case was registered and police tried to trace the boy, but all efforts had gone in vain," Bhagwat said on Wednesday.

He was missing since January 26, 2011, after he left his home without informing anyone. His mother had filed a police complaint after that, but the boy remained untraced.

The mother in August, 2018 came across the Facebook profile, under the name "Dinesh Jena Lima", with her son's photograph and lodged a fresh complaint.

Bhagwat said, "The complainant came across a profile on Facebook by the name Dinesh Jena Lima and she lodged a fresh complaint with Rachakonda Cyber Crime Police Station. The officials immediately took up the investigation and collected IP address and traced the location of the missing boy to Ranakala village, Amritsar district, Punjab."

Giving further details, the Times of India said that Dinesh had run away from home after a fight with his brother over a cricket match on a January afternoon in 2011. He stole Rs 2000 and left the city, never to return. He then went to Secunderabad station, and boarded a train which took him to Delhi. He met a Sikh gentleman, who looked after him and offered him his place to stay in Amritsar.

In 2015, Dinesh decided to visit Hyderabad and meet his family.

“I almost reached my house and then developed cold feet for what I had done eight years ago. I returned to Punjab and created my profiles on Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter, hoping that my family members will notice them and contact me," Dinesh told ToI.

A police team went to Punjab and brought back the boy, who was under the guardianship of a landlord there, and reunited him with his parents, the Commissioner said.

He also said, “The parents and relatives of the boy have expressed their happiness."

(With inputs from agencies)