I will not return to hostel: Budhia Singh

BHUBANESWAR: Limca Book of World Records holder and marathon runner Budhia Singh on Friday once again made it clear that he would not return to the Sports Hostel, Bhubaneswar. Appearing before the Khordha District Child Welfare Committee (CWC) for his alleged unauthorized disappearance from the Sports Hostel, Budhia who is popularly known as wonder boy, said the hostel appeared to him as jail and he received no proper grooming there.

The CWC had on July 16 lodged a complaint with the Nayapalli police station here alleging that the wonder boy was abducted. The CWC had also issued a notice to a Mumbai-based film producer Subhamitra Sen, who has produced the biopic on Budhia- titled ‘Budhia Singh: Born to Run’ after news reports in print and electronic media suggested that the 15-year-old boy was taken to Mumbai by the production house for promotion of the movie.

Budhia and his mother Sukanti Singh, on their arrival from Mumbai on Wednesday evening, had told reporters they had gone to Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu and from there they went to Mumbai on the request of the film producer. Budhia’s mother had denied the charge of abduction of her son. Budhia, who on May 2, 2005 came into the limelight by running a 65-kilometre distance from Puri to Bhubaneswar in just 7 hours and 2 minutes when he was only four-plus years old, said that in the hostel he felt like being lodged in a jail. Budhia had not reported to the Sports Hostel in Bhubaneswar, after the summer vacation giving rise to speculations over his disappearance. The wonder boy had been undergoing training at the Sports Hostel since he was seven in 2007.