Thane:
A doubt which kept nagging police inspector Srikanth Sonde and prompted him to probe further led to a 29-year-old Rapid Action Force (RAF) cop being reunited with his parents, 26 years after he got separated from them.
Ganesh Dhangde, who was aged six then, had set out with his neighbours in Thane for a fair and gone missing from the railway station.
His family members searched him and later gave up hopes of getting him back. The six-year-old Dhangde ended up in a Worli orphanage and was taken care of by a warden, before being shifted to Krida Prabhodini, where he completed his education.
After his education and winning a number of awards for sports, he was selected for a job in the Thane police force and posted to the Rapid Action Force in July 2013.
When his superior officers enquired about his family, he told them that he was an 'orphan'.
However, something about his reply deeply disturbed inspector Srikanth Sonde and some other officers who undertook the task of tracing his roots and this led them to the Worli orphanage where Dhangde had lived.
Later, they came to know that Dhangde had lived near the Mama-Bacha hills locality in the city, 26 years ago. An additional clue available to them was his mother's name 'Manda' inscribed on his arm, which led them to locate the house of the woman, who admitted to the police officers, that her son had indeed gone missing 26 years ago.
Dhangde was thus reunited with his mother, 26 years after he went missing as a six-year-old lad, thanks to the tireless efforts of inspector Srikanth Sonde, who spent several sleepless nights, solving the puzzle.