Cops help man reunite with family after 21 years

CHENNAI: A 26-year-old man was reunited with his family after living for 21 years without knowing that his family existed. St Thomas Mount Police, who were on night patrol, helped the man find his family.On Tuesday night, police inspector Mohammad Nasser and sub-inspector Murugadoss were on patrolling duty when they found a man standing near Ramakrishna cinema theatre at Appavu Mudali Street, Alandur. They questioned him as he was behaving suspiciously and brought him to the police station.The man identified himself as Dheenadayalan and said that he ran away from home when he was five after his mother Rajeshwari beat him for not going to school.He went across the state and lived under the protection of many people before returning to Chennai five years ago. He said he decided to stand in front of the theatre as he remembered that his maternal grandfather had worked there as a projector operator. He also said he remembered that he used to stay opposite the theatre.The police then inquired with the theatre staff who said that an old man, reportedly father of Irusappan, had worked there years ago, as an operator. They then visited a house in Kannan Colony, Alandur, and found Irusappan and his two sons Ayyanar (29) and Saravanan (28).Father and son were able to recognise each other when the former said that the 26- year-old’s original name was Gangamuthu.Dheenadayalan told Express that he lived under the protection of a railway TTR for two years in Chidambaram after he ran away from home. “My parents were living separately. I lived with my mother while my brothers lived with my father. I didn’t know about my father then. All I remember is that after my mom beat me up, I ran away and got into an electric train. I found that my mother died five years after I ran away as she was dejected that she could not find me,” he said.He said he ran away from the TTR’s house after two years and worked in a hotel as a waiter in Thiruvarur.Two years later he again ran off to Mayiladuthuurai where a railway employee took him under his care. “I spent the rest of my stay in his house and came back to Chennai five years ago and am working in a company at Mandaveli now. All I remember is my mother’s face...,” said Dheenadayalan.He is going to shift into his father’s house today.