Man who met family after 40 years dies

DUBAI A cook from Dubai, who was reunited with his family after 40 years, has died.

In October 2014, XPRESS reported the bizarre case of how Baputty or Abdulla Punathil Usman, who had ‘disappeared’ after he left his hometown in Kerala four decades earlier, was discovered by his family on a hospital bed in Dubai. The unlikely reunion occurred after Baputty’s friends launched a search for his family when he was he was hospitalised with an infected foot.

Abdul Gafoor, a Dubai driver instrumental in the reunion, said Baputty, who had returned to India, died on December 13. “He was happy. He had regained his health and was doing fine. But he complained of chest pain and died on the way to hospital.”

Gafoor recalled his hunt for Baputty’s family and how he had gotten lucky with Haneefa, an Abu Dhabi driver, who was among the 50-odd people who had called him with claims that they were looking for a missing family member. Haneefa, who has now rushed to Kerala, had said then that Baputty’s name had rung a bell as he remembered his childhood days when one of his mother’s brothers had left for the Gulf, never to return.

After contacting Gafoor, he met Baputty in hospital. When Baputty reeled off the names of his late grandparents, there was no mistaking his identity. It was not clear why he had lost touch with them. But an overwhelmed Haneefa helped him return to his native place where he remained until the sudden end came.