Uttarakhand: Missing ITBP jawan returns to his village after a decade

NAINITAL: An ITBP jawan reported missing almost a decade ago was spotted walking around in New Delhi's Connaught Place area by his native villager last week and the man has now been brought back to his village in Champawat district.


Vikram Singh, who was inducted in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police force in 1986, was last seen by his family in December, 2009, when he had left home to join his posting in Kanpur.

But Singh, who apparently had developed a mental ailment, never reached Kanpur.

On February 2, 2010, the family was informed by the ITBP that Singh didn't come to the camp. Subsequently, the family began searching for Singh but he couldn't be found anywhere. The family even met local SDM and officials of defence ministry asking them to find him but Singh couldn't be traced.

Singh's wife Manju, who never lost hope of his return, welcomed her husband with garlands and moist eyes on Wednesday.

"We knocked every official's door to find him but couldn't. It is no short of a miracle that someone from our village spotted him in Delhi and informed us. I cannot be happier," she said.

Sources said that Singh spent all these years begging for food at temples and mosques in various places.

"No one could believe that his return was possible. His sons have grown up. They hardly recognise him. The whole village is delighted that he was come back after almost a decade," said a neighbour of Singh.