His family had been frantically searching for him since April 6, after he briefly contacted them using a railway vendor’s phone.
Published: May 25, 2026 5:33 PM IST
New Delhi: Mumbai: In what can be termed as paradoxical, a 25-year-old medical student was rescued by the Mumbai Police in an anti-begging drive. The rescued student is from Nanded, Maharashtra. He is suffering from mental health issues and was begging on the streets after going missing for 47 days, officials said on Sunday, 24 May.
Third-year Student of BHMS
The youth, who has been identified as Abhay Suresh Belkoni, is a third-year student of Bachelor of Homoeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS). He went missing en route to his college in Jalgaon on April 4, lost his bag and phone during the train journey, and ultimately ended up stranded and begging for food in Mumbai, said the police. He was rescued from SV Road in the western suburb of Malad on Thursday, 21 May, an official said.
Details Were Verified
“The youth appeared physically weak and was unable to respond clearly to questions due to his mental state. However, he managed to share his name and hometown,” an official from the Malad police station said. The details were verified with the Tamsa police station in Nanded, where a missing persons complaint had been registered in his name, he said.
Abhay had lost all his belongings, investigations revealed, including his mobile phone and identity documents, during his train journey to Jalgaon. Stranded in Mumbai without money or means of communication, he resorted to begging, the official said.
His Family Had Been Anxiously Searching For Him
The Belkoni family had been frantically searching for Abhay since April 6, after he briefly contacted them using a railway vendor’s phone. However, the call got disconnected before he could explain his situation, and the vendor later informed the family that he had left.
After a futile search, the family lodged a formal missing person report with the Nanded police on May 16. Following the verification, the police contacted Abhay’s father and the youth was safely reunited with his family the same day, the official added.
(With PTI inputs)
