84-yr-old goes missing, found after four days

Praveen Kumar | NT

Bengaluru: The plight of this 84-year-old man, C Rajanna, is akin to the character enacted by Anant Nag in the Kannada movie ‘Godhi Banna Sadharana Maikattu’. He suffers from memory loss and goes missing. His family is unable to trace him for four days and even contemplates visiting mortuaries to check for unclaimed bodies.

However, their long wait had a happy ending after a Good Samaritan provided shelter to Rajanna and successfully united him with his sons.

The octogenarian had gone missing from the house of his son R. Ravi, a military police officer, in HSR Layout 1st sector on Wednesday. Rajanna left the house between 2.30 pm and 2.50 pm. The family carried out a search and Ravi filed a missing complaint with the HSR Layout police on Friday.

“My father is a widower. He was earlier working in Binny Mill and we were staying at the quarters in BinnyPet. Later as the family grew, he stayed in my house. I have another brother who stays in Nagarbhavi. We had no idea for four days till Saturday where my father was. When he was found, we were told that he was in Electronic City which is almost 12 kilometres from my house. My father does not remember how he went there and where he stayed for four days. On Saturday a Good Samaritan who was earlier staying in BinnyPet identified my father and took him there thinking that we still stay there.

My father did not even remember that he was staying with me when he was asked by the Samaritan,” Ravi told NT.

While efforts were being made at BinnyPet area to trace the family, a local cable operator who knew Rajanna took him to his house.

“Since the cable operator had the contact details of my brother, he was contacted. He rushed to BinnyPet and took our father to his house in Nagarbhavi. We have now locked the gates and ensured that he is not alone. Even earlier he used to go missing, but he never used to go far, someone in the locality would bring him back. This time it was a very scary experience,” Ravi said.

The family had checked for him at bus stands, railway stations, relatives and friends’ houses. “We are lucky enough to have found him. Memory loss to senior citizens is very frightening. We are chalking out plans so that he is accompanied by somebody,” Ravi added.

After the aged man was traced, Ravi approached the HSR Layout police to inform them. The police have asked the family to meet them with the octogenarian on Sunday and give a statement.