TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
VASCO: In a shocking instance of dereliction of parental duties, an 11-yr-old boy from Satara-Maharashtra was reportedly abandoned by his parents at the Dabolim International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.
Sameer Shivaji Bagoda, who was found distraught and moving aimlessly in the airport, later told police that his parents had told him that they were flying to Dubai and had given him cash of Rs 500 to return to his native place at Satara.
According to police reports, the airport security staff noticed Sameer on CCTV cameras, while he was crying and roaming outside the airport terminal.
One security guard then went towards the boy and found him carrying a plastic bag containing some clothes and fruits.
The boy was then handed over to the Dabolim police.
Disoriented and desolate, Sameer was initially unable to provide any information about himself and his address.
Security officials then checked all flight departures from 2 pm to 5 pm, but did not find any passengers identified as Shivaji Vithal Bagoda and Shoba Vithal Bagoda.
Sameer could only recall that he along with his parents had travelled from Satara to Goa by train at 12 am on Tuesday and had reached the Dabolim airport by bus at about 2 pm.
Sameer recalled his parents telling him that they were flying to Dubai and on reaching the airport, gave his cash of Rs 500 with the instruction that he should return to his native place at Satara.
A distraught Sameer was, however, unable to provide the Dabolim Airport police with further information about his native place and his other relatives.
A Go Air female staffer, Sheik Amina, then offered to assist the police in the matter and took Sameer into confidence and managed to calm him down.
Once relaxed, Sameer opened up to Amina and stated that he was a Std 3 student at Prathamic Vidhyalaya Marathi School in Satara and identified his teacher as one Anita.
Sameer then told Amina that his mother was wearing a white saree, while his father wore a long pant and shirt. They had carried a brown suitcase.
Sameer further stated that his grandmother’s name is Sulochana, while his aunt was Anushiya, but he failed to provide the name of his village and details about his neighbours.
With little information at their disposal, the Dabolim police along with a security official then took Sameer to view CCTV footage with the hope that the footage would have captured his parents at the airport and that he could identify them.
Despite showing him all the relevant CCTV footage, Sameer failed to identify his parents.
Left with no option, the police later took Sameer to the Dabolim Airport police station and recorded his statements in the presence of an NGO member.
The Dabolim police have also got in touch with their counterparts in Satara (Maharashtra) to ascertain if any missing complaint has been filed at the Satara police station.
