Hyderabad: Delivery executive spots missing boy

Hyderabad: A 10-year-old boy who went missing at 5.30 am on Tuesday was identified and rescued by a two-wheeler taxi-aggregator’s executive at Vayupuri, a good three kilometres from his house.

The boy, Dheeraj Reddy, had left his house at Veda’s Heights in Yapral saying that he was going to use the toilet. “The parents were waiting for him but he did not return for hours,” said a police official from the Jawaharnagar police station, where a missing complaint was registered. Mr Upender Reddy, the boy’s father, said: “My son does not go out of the house in the morning. So when he went out today, it did seem suspicious, but since he said it was to relieve himself, we didn’t mind. As the hours went by, we grew restless and registered a missing complaint.”

At Vayupuri, Mr Subramaniam, the executive in question, found the child walking with his cycle at 4 pm.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Mr Subramaniam said: “A customer I was attending to was speaking to the child’s mother. I overheard their conversation and asked for the child’s picture which I shared on to a Whatsapp group for delivery executives and drivers. Later, I saw the child with a cycle near the Rachakonda police commissionerate.” The child reportedly had a 500 ml bottle of cold drink with him, which he said was given to him by a masked stranger. Fortunately, he had not consumed any of it. “When I asked him for his name, he said it was Nani. I knew he was lying, when I asked him sternly, he confessed. That is when he told me the truth.” The child was then taken to the closest police station. Mr Subramaniam was given a cash reward of Rs 5,000 by the Malkajgiri DCP for his presence for mind and quick action.