‘A father to the lost’: Sub-Inspector’s relentless search for missing persons

For hundreds of families who had long lost hope of finding their loved ones, Sub-Inspector Rajesh Kumar of the Haryana Police has emerged as a beacon of hope. Posted with the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the State Crime Branch in Panchkula, Rajesh has helped reunite over 900 missing persons with their families since 2016 — including children, elderly persons and the mentally challenged.

Working tirelessly with limited clues, painstaking counselling and an ever-growing network of contacts across the country, the SI has managed to trace missing individuals who had been living for years in child care institutions, orphanages and old-age homes.

“From language barriers to trust issues and faded memories about family members and hometowns — every case brings a new challenge. But the moment I tell people that I have found their missing child or relative, make them talk through a video call and then reunite them in person, the raw emotions I see keep me motivated to search for more,” said Rajesh Kumar, who joined the Haryana Police as a constable in 2000.

The officer said it was a visit to a Shishu Grah in Panchkula in 2015 that changed his life. “Some children came to me thinking I was their father and had come to take them home. That moment moved me deeply. I decided to dedicate myself to finding and reuniting such people who had been spending their lives in orphanages and old-age homes waiting for their families,” he recalled.

Leveraging his posting in the AHTU, Rajesh began visiting child care institutions, old-age homes and Mahila Ashrams to identify people who had been living there for years without contact with their families. Over time, his work expanded far beyond Haryana.

“Over the years, I have reunited people in almost all states — including Punjab, Rajasthan, Kerala, Jharkhand and Gujarat. In a few cases, the missing persons were from Nepal and Bangladesh who had been living in different ashrams,” he said.

His nationwide network has often provided vital leads. “Recently, we managed to reunite a man in his 70s, who had been missing for nearly 55 years, with his family in Kerala. He was living in an old-age home in Karnal. When we were told he spoke Malayalam, we posted a video of him and a contact from Kerala recognised him. That helped us trace his family,” Rajesh shared.

During a visit to a child care institution in Ambala, the SI appealed to the public to help by taking small but crucial steps. “Many children remain missing for 10 to 20 years. We request families to keep their children’s Aadhaar details updated — it helps immensely in tracing them. Similarly, if anyone finds an elderly person in distress or mentally unstable on the roads, they should immediately inform the police or the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit. Their small help can make a big difference,” he said.