Chennai man looks for missing son in Rajasthan

Every morning, Chennai resident Thirumavalavan sets out from the Birla Institute of Science and Technology (BITS) in Pilani, Rajasthan, to look for his missing son Hemanand T.


Braving the searing temperature, he scours the dusty town and nearby villages until dusk before he returns to his temporary digs to rest and begin his hunt anew. Hemanand, a 23-year-old final year MTech student has not been seen on the campus since April 22.

Thirumavalavan, a 60-year-old from Madipakkam in Chennai, can barely speak or understand Hindi and carries pictures of his son, requesting commuters and shopkeepers to help him find the youth.

His younger son Vivekanand T, a banking professional, spends each day meeting police, students and members of the university administration following up and collecting clues about his missing brother.

A student of chemical engineering, Hemanand had left his cellphone and wallet containing ATM cards, ID cards and money in his hostel room.

He was not seen by anyone nor captured by any CCTV camera walking out of the campus.

The administration was informed of the disappearance on April 23 evening and a complaint was lodged at the local police station the next day. His disappearance, barely 20 days before the completion of his two-year degree programme and after he was successfully placed with a company during the campus recruitment, has puzzled all.

Thirumavalam, who had arrived on April 24, is losing hope of ever seeing his son again with every passing day.

He has stopped taking calls from his family and friends from Chennai. “Every night my father waits for dawn to begin his day-long search. He is determined to not leave Pilani until he finds my brother,” said Vivekanand, who has taken indefinite leave from his employers.

The family has termed the local police and the college administration ‘insensitive’ for not displaying the required urgency in the first few days of his disappearance.

“The police had repeatedly told us that elections are around the corner and they can spend very limited time investigating the matter,” said Vivekanand, who is keeping tabs on social media handles of his brother and using his phone hoping to receive a call from him.

Refuting the allegations,

Jhunjhunu

superintendent of police Gaurav Yadav said, “It is not that we were busy in elections. We have a good number of personnel and have been registering and solving various cases. We are working on some clues which may take us to the boy’s whereabouts.”

He said they had decided to send a team to Chennai for further investigation.

BITS Pilani registrar Samuel Ernest had told TOI earlier that every effort was being made to trace Hemanand.

“We had also set up an internal inquiry which found that he left the campus voluntarily. We are providing all possible assistance to his family,” said Ernest.


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