Nashik cops trace kin of a dead man who left home 40 years ago

NASHIK: A discharge slip from the Nashik Civil Hospital found in the trouser pocket of an unidentified deceased person helped the city police to track down his family to Ozar, about 22 km from Nashik city. Incidentally, the deceased person, who was eventually identified as 65-year-old Pralhad Narayan Bachkar, had abandoned his family four decades ago — and had been missing since.
After the police were able to find the family, Bachkar’s son performed his last rites on Wednesday.
An unidentified body was found near the market yard area of Panchavati in the city on January 21. During the course of the investigation, the police found a discharge slip issued by the Nashik Civil Hospital in the trouser pocket of the deceased person. This helped ascertain his identity.
“From the appearance of the deceased, it appeared that he was living the life of a wanderer. He may have been living on alms,” said Ashok Bhagat, the senior police inspector of Panchavati police station. “From the hospital discharge slip, we could ascertain his name and the place he belonged to. We started looking for his family the same day,” Bhagat said.
Police naik Ananda Chaudhary said, “When a body of an unidentified person is found, we send a message with the description of the deceased person across the district. If personnel of any police station feel that the description matches anyone missing in their jurisdiction, their family members are contacted to ascertain the identity.”
In this case, police naik Chaudhary and police constable Arun Gaikwad spread the message about the deceased person on various social media groups of Ozar residents. By Wednesday morning, the police investigation led to one name — Hiraman Pralhad Bachkar, the 48-year-old son of the deceased. When the two constables contacted Hiraman, they learned that Pralhad Bachkar had left his home about 40 years ago.
Hiraman too was in a state of shock. “Hiraman’s mother (Pralhad’s wife) is no more. He said he barely remembered his father as he was too young when his father left them. Identifying his father’s body was, therefore, out of the question for him. However, some elder members of the family were able to identify the deceased man and the body was handed over to them.”
Hiraman said that while he had no hopes of ever meeting his father, he was grateful that he could at least perform his last rites.