COIMBATORE: An investigation team traced down the 17-year-old school boy, who left his parents in the city 11 months ago, from a restaurant at Powai in Mumbai on Wednesday. He was taken back to Coimbatore and produced before a judicial magistrate court on Thursday. The boy told police he was not interested in studies and left home when his parents insisted that he continue his education. Police officials traced the boy with the help of Facebook.
Police said, U Aaditya, (17) of Gurusamy Nagar in Peelamedu, was studying in Class XI at National Model School on Avinashi Road. He was an average student. His father, R Umapathy, a civil engineer and his mother, U Senthamarai, a sub-registrar of Sulur sub-registrar office, scolded him for not performing well in the exams.
On 28 September, 2011, Aaditya left home and took a train to Mumbai. His parents conducted a search with their friends and relatives but to no avail. Finally, they lodged a complaint with Peelamedu police station. While the case was pending, Umapathy approached Madras high court and filed a habeas corpus. The court instructed police to find the boy and produce him before the court.
A special team was formed to trace him. The team approached his relatives and friends’ circle and asked them to inform police if the boy contacted them.
Recently, the police got vital information that Aaditya had joined Facebook as Aaditya Mukesh. Police attempted to identify his location with the help of the boy’s Internet Protocol (IP) address but were unable to do so immediately due to too heavy online traffic.
A special team approached the legal wing of Facebook, Ireland through email and finally got three mobile phone numbers. The legal wing clearly mentioned that the boy was operating the account through his mobile number and two other numbers. Based on the mobile numbers, city police traced the boy’s whereabouts to a restaurant at Powai in Mumbai.
A special team led by Peelamedu police sub-inspector A Sivakumar went to Mumbai and found the boy. He was taken to Coimbatore on Thursday and produced before judicial magistrate court -VI. The court has sent him back to his parents.
“Aaditya had chatted on Facebook and we approached Facebook legal wing to help locate the origin of the chats,” said C Karthikeyan, inspector, Peelamedu police station.
Police said, the boy approached an auto rickshaw driver after reaching Mumbai and joined a restaurant. He got Rs85 as daily wage and stayed at the hotel itself. He knew Hindi and managed to become familiar with the city.
Source: TNN, timesofindia.indiatimes.com
