Mentally ill homeless man ‘returns from dead’

Patna resident Sanjay Kumar 44 was mentally ill and destitute when he was placed in the care of Mumbaibased Ramon Magsaysay Award winner Dr Bharat Vatwani twoandahalf months ago by an NGO based in Kasaragod KeralaOn October 31 after receiving treatment Sanjay was reunited with his family in Patnamdashafter almost four yearsmdashby social workers of the Shraddha Rehabilitation Centre which is located at Vengaon village Karjat and run by Dr VatwaniSanjay went missing in 2018 Surprisingly his family had not only presumed that he had died in a road accident but in 2020 they also cremated a body and even obtained a death certificate in his name from the local civic body While the family is excited that a healthy Sanjay returned to them on the auspicious occasion of Chhath Puja the question that haunts them is whose body did they cremate two years agoAlso read Pune Delivery man who went missing found deadA portrait of him that his family made after he was presumed deadDr Vatwani the psychiatrist under whose care Sanjay recovered said ldquoToday is Chhath Puja a very auspicious day for North Indians The gods weaving their magic on auspicious occasions came up with a fairytale reunion by team Shraddha of a recovered mentally ill roadside destitute in Bihar with his family who believed he was dead He was a known case of schizophreniardquoA bright studentSanjays 62yearold father Nand Lal Sav said ldquoSanjay was a bright student and was in his final year BSc when he suddenly started behaving abnormally and was diagnosed with schizophrenia We got him admitted to Ranchi mental hospital and was under treatmentrdquoldquoHis wife Kanchandevi 35 and son Aditya Kumar 9 and daughter Trisha 7 were young when he left the house The last time he had gone missing he was loitering on the streets of Patna for three days He eventually returned home on his own We expected him to return soon and were hopeful but the lockdown happened and all our hopes proved futilerdquoSanjay Kumar in yellow Tshirt with his family at his Patna residenceTwo years laterAfter the COVIDinduced lockdown according to Nand Lal ldquoThe local police on June 9 2020 informed the family of a dead body that was found which resembled Sanjay As the face was beyond recognition on the basis of the description we identified the body and cremated the same COVID restrictions were still in place for performing last ritesrdquo Asked if the family had informed the police about Sanjay being alive Nand Lal said We havenrsquot thought about approaching the police yetEmotional reunionOn October 31 the entire clan were at the riverside near their house to perform Chhath Puja Around 7 am Ajay Ransure a social worker from Shraddha Rehabilitation Centre appeared with Sanjay near the house shocking family and neighbours alikeldquoWe have decided not to let him go anywhere henceforth He was not speaking much but could identify and recognise his children and wife He had his lunch and slept for a while At night we ensured that he was not allowed to go anywhere alone He looked weak and we did not ask him about his whereabouts in the past four yearsrdquo said the emotional fatherDr Bharat VatwaniHe added ldquoWe have been told by Ransure that medicines would be sent as and when required by Dr Vatwani We are thankful to all the Good Samaritans and Dr Vatwani for having sent our missing son back to usDead man walkingRansure 27 who travelled with Santosh from Kurla Terminus to Bihar said ldquoSanjay has improved a lot As we got closer to his home he was able to recall that a flour mill is in front of his house When we actually reached his house the flour mill was indeed thererdquoThe youth Ajay who has a postgraduate degree in Arts specialising in social work has been escorting the destitute back to their families for four years He hails from Osmanabad and on an average goes on 30 to 35 such missions every year ldquoI could not control my tears when I saw his two small children touching his feet and the emotional outburst of his aged parents I had never witnessed such a momentrdquo he saidHow the address was crackedAccording to Dr Vatwani Dr Uday Singh a resident medical officer at the Karjat centre who also hails from Bihar worked hard to get clues from Sanjay Dr Singh said ldquoSanjay was sent to us from Snehalaya Kerala He would seldom respond to oral commands and was unable to open his right fist I gradually provided him with physiotherapy and he could open his fist to some extent gaining confidencerdquo ldquoEven I hail from Bihar so was wellversed with the locations I would check for the clues on Google Maps and could confirm his antecedents He was unable to recall any contact numbersrdquo he addedSpotted in Kerala sent to MumbaiBrother Joseph Crasta founder of Snehalaya Psycho Social Rehabilitation Centre at Manjeshwar Kasaragod said ldquoSanjay was loitering aimlessly when he was spotted by our social workers and was brought to the centre a few months ago We have three hundredplus destitute persons residing at our place and once the patient is settled we start collecting their personal information so we can help them trace their families Since Sanjay was from Bihar we contacted Dr Bharat and shifted him to Mumbai for better care and rehabilitationrdquo2020Year the cremation of the person thought to be Sanjay occurred