Patna: A man from the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand who had been cycling around looking for his missing wife was finally united with his “love” earlier this week.
In what has come as a perfect Valentine’s Day gift, 45-year-old Manohar Nayak traced his wife Anita Devi to Kharagpur district of West Bengal, thanks to the support from the local police.
A daily wage earner, Nayak had been searching for his wife on his rickety cycle since last month and ultimately found her after 28 days. In the process, the man covered some 750km on his cycle.
The woman had gone missing from Musabani locality of east Singhbhum district in Jharkhand last month. The woman who was suffering from mental problems had been missing since January 11 this year.
“My joy knew no bounds when the local police called me up on my mobile and asked to come with the Aadhaar cards of both of us. Once I reached there, I was sent to Khaargpur where I found my wife at the police station,” Manohar told the media on Thursday.
He said he had not lost hope of getting back his wife although the search had got longer.
Reports said some villagers had seen the woman sitting at a roadside eatery and informed the local Kharagpur police who in turn informed police in Jharkhand. The local police had sent a photograph of Manohar’s wife to nearby police stations in Odisha and West Bengal states.
“We are happy to see him unite with his wife for whom he was cycling around like a possessed man,” Musabani police station in-charge Suresh Linda told the media on Thursday.
According to Manohar, he registered a case with the local police when she went missing, but after failing to get any clues about her whereabouts, he set out on his cycle looking for his wife.
Armed with his wife’s passport size passport and his feet on the peddle of his rickety bicycle, the man had been visiting two-three villages every day, seeking information from the local villagers about the whereabouts of his wife.
“Have you seen this woman?” he kept asking villagers and passers-by after showing her photograph he kept in the upper pocket of his shirt. According to Manohar, he had been travelling around 30-40km per day.
