Missing Garo youth found after five years

In a miraculous incident, a youth from Rongchigre village near Rongram in West Garo Hills who had gone missing for about four years in Kolkata recently reunited with his family.

Sillian A. Sangma disappeared on December 12, 2012, while coming back from Chennai, where he went in search of livelihood. For the next four years, Sillian, who was then 21, made the streets of Kolkata his home surviving on generous handouts from passing commuters.

He befriended an auto rickshaw driver, who asked him about his home. Last December, Sillian told his auto rickshaw driver friend about a phone number he recalled being used by one of his relatives back home, His whereabouts were located when the auto driver helped him to call his relatives in Garo hills.

However, what led to his disappearance remains a mystery. With the help of a social activist from Kolkata, Cornelius Gomes, and members of the Garo community in Kolkata, Sillian was finally reunited with his family.

Sillian, now 25, claimed that he was drugged and his belongings, including identity papers, were stolen when he arrived in Kolkata. Unfamiliar with the place and language, he suffered a mental breakdown and started living on the city streets.

Expressing delight his mother said, "We are really grateful to all who helped us to get back our son. I never expected to see him again but always believed in God. It is he (God) who gave us our son back. I have nothing to repay anyone, who helped us except our blessings which we want to give abundantly".