Rituals for the peace of his soul were performed in 2006 by his family in the name of ShradhShanti. But Radhe Chourasia, a valve-man with the Military Engineering Services who’d disappeared under mysterious circumstances in January 1999 was traced in Barrackpore, after nearly 25 years. Radhe, as his son Rajkumar Chourashia, a staff with the Bihar Agriculture department stated, “was a valve-man with the Military Engineering Services and was posted in Tezpur, Assam.”

Rajkumar, his sisters Sangeeta and Anita are still residing at their ancestral home at Baki Singaha village within Bhaluani Police Station limits in Deoria district in Uttar Pradesh. Rajkumar said: “My father had left Tezpur on a monthlong leave for Baki Singaha on 3 January, 1999.” But, “he didn’t reach home. We received a letter from the MES, Tezpur that had narrated about his leave departure from the Army station.”

The MES letter had claimed that Radhe didn’t join duty even though two months had passed. Rajkumar said: “I was a boy that time and my mother left no stone unturned, but my father couldn’t be traced.” The police, the MES also failed and finally in 2006, the authorities concluded that Radhe might have died somehow while in transit.

At Barrackpore Bus terminus, meanwhile, the missing Radhe was frequenting a tea stall looking for people to help him get food and tea. Ambarish Nag Biswas, the secretary of the West Bengal Radio Club also visits the same tea vendor. He started inquiring why the elderly man was wandering on the streets for so many years. Ambarish said: “After repeated attempts over the months, I could gather some inputs to locate his native place and his family. Finally he shared some clues about his village and family but he’d forgotten the names of his son and the elder daughter.”

Only, he added: “He was uttering the names of his wife Shanti and younger daughter Sangeeta that I shared with the voluntary HAM radio operators in Uttar Pradesh last week.” Ambarish’s UP counterparts finally located Rajkumar, the son.

The matter was immediately informed to the police and administration here and through video calls the son saw his father after almost 25 years. Sourabh Kumar Barik, SDM, Barrackpore is now to help Radhe reunite with his family members. Shanti, Radhe’s wife, meanwhile, had passed away one and a half years ago, the family said