A mentally-ill man from Kerala, who had gone missing about eight years ago, reunited with his two brothers on the Republic Day with the effort of a Sundargarh man.
According to sources, Ummar Koya (41), a resident of Paniyankara village of Calicut district in Kerala, was mentally ill. During the year 2012, he had reportedly decided to visit Ervadi Dargah in Tamil Nadu and had left for it. He, however, did not return home ever since.
The family members of Ummar had lodged a missing complaint of Ummar and searched him in Kerala and Tamil Nadu but in vain.
Ummar thereafter somehow had reached Sundargarh. He was wandering for more than seven years. He was often spotted loitering in front of District Social Security Officer office and also premises of Sundargarh Collectorate. He was seen wearing dirty clothes and his hair was in shabby condition. He was speaking something in Malayalam. Whoever was giving him food, he was eating and most of the time, he was sleeping on the rest shed in front of Social Security office.
Three years ago, one Shiju Thomas of Sundargarh made a video of Ummar and contacted Asianet News and requested to telecast the news on their channels. After several attempts of Shiju, the video on Ummar was telecast on September 7, 2019 with contact number of Shiju. Shiju also shared about this on social media groups and different platforms and requested to contact him on his mobile number. So many people contacted Shiju but Shiju could not find his actual relatives.
In the meanwhile, during December 2019, Sundargarh District Social Security Officer Ashok Kumar Bisi, after noticing the mentally ill man, informed RC Behera of Halfway home, an NGO. Volunteers of the NGO brought Ummar to Rourkela. Ummer was admitted in a private hospital and after getting treatment there for a month, he slightly recovered.
Shiju went to the hospital and talked to Ummar and after several attempts, Ummar could remember his location and his siblings' names. Ummar said location was in Calicut district of Kerala. Shiju contacted another person of Calicut district and after several chain contacts, Ummar's home and relatives were traced.
Ummar’s two younger brothers identified as Mustaffa and Samsuddin reached Rourkela on January 26 and met their brother after about eight years. They hugged Ummar and got emotional. “We are really very delighted getting our brother back after about eight years,” said Mustaffa and Samsuddin, brothers of Ummar.
Sundargarh Collector reportedly provided Rs 20,000 to Ummar from the Red Cross.
