Good Samaritans take runaway child home

10-yr-old boy who left home fearing parents' rebuke found in train by two men

The Dhivar family burst into tears when Nikhil, their 10-year-old son returned home after two days.u00a0 Nikhil had run away on Tuesday afternoon out of fear of his parents getting angry over his poor results.

Finally, two men found him in a Churchgate-bound train at 10 pm on Thursday night. They were Suresh Banjan, an assistant manager with RBI, and Bijoy Idicheriah, a journalist.


Nikhil in the embrace of his mother when he returned home after three days

The two were on their way home when they saw Nikhil sitting in the train that was to leave from platform number four. Banjan, a Borivli resident, said, "We got concerned and told him to get off the train.
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When we questioned him, he told us that he had come with his family and was left behind by mistake. He was scared and didn't know what to do."

The duo decided to drop him home after he told them that he stayed in Kandivli.

"We didn't want to take him to the police because then he would have been kept in a children's home, which would have frightened him. So we decided to take him directly to his house," said Banjan.

Vivek, Nikhil's father, said he had lost all hopes of his son returning home.

"We had informed every police station on the western railway line and were about to stick his photo on every station, but he was found by two good human beings," he said.

Nikhil's days out

Nikhil, a class VI student left his home at around 3:30 pm on Tuesday from Malad station.

"My friend told me that he knew how to travel by train and everything would be fine. But he got down at Kandivli station and I could not, because as I was scared," he said.

Nikhil reached Borivli and fell asleep in the train.

"I was frightened when I found myself at Churchgate," he said. When he got hungry, he asked for money from a stranger and for the next two days, Nikhil survived on vada pavs.
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Nikhil's mother, Pooja, said that not all runaways return home. "We are happy that he is one of them," she said.