MP: Man missing for 22 years returning from Pakistan jail

Following the efforts of Sagar Superintendent of Police Atul Singh, 33-year-old Prahlad Singh, who has been languishing in a Pakistani jail, is finally returning home.

Sagar (Madhya Pradesh): When Prahlad Singh went missing 22 years ago, his family members had lost all hope of him ever returning. But god had something else in mind. A year ago, Prahlad's brother met Sagar Supreintendent of Police (SP) Atul Singh in connection with this matter. Atul Singh took the matter seriously and today Prahlad is on his way home at Khamkheda village in Gourjhamar tehsil of Sagar district via the India-Pakistan border.

Prahlad Singh, son of Keylal Rajput, was born April 17, 1965, at Ghosi Patti, Khamkheda village. From the beginning, he was mentally unstable and when he was 33 years old, he suddenly went missing from his home. Though his family members tried hard to find him, they could not get any information in this connection.

Prahlad's elder brother Veer Singh Rajput said that after he went missing in 1998, there was no trace of him. It was only in 2014 that information was received through a newspaper report that Prahlad was languishing ina jail in Pakistan. As soon as he came to know about it, Veer Singh tried at every level, from the district collector to the SP, to trace and bring his brother back but to no avail.

According to Sagar SP Atul Singh, In 2015, the Pakistan government informed the Indian government that they had 17 such prisoners who are mentally challenged and are not able to tell their names and addresses properly. When this information was matched with that given by the missing man's relatives, what came to be known was that a person named Prahlad was there in a Pakistani prison, but apart from his name, his address and other information could not be found.

After they were convinced in 2015 that it was indeed their Prahlad, his family members kept trying for his retrun for five yeas but without any result. In 2020, Veer Singh met SP Atul Singh and informed him about his missing brother. When Atul Singh investigated the claims made by Prahlad's family, he found many similarities between the information they had shared and the information sent by the Pakistan government. He then got in touch with the state police headquarters and sent information to the Ministry of External Affairs.

In June 20212, External Affairs Ministry sought information about Prahlad and statements were taken from villagers. On the basis of this, it was confirmed that the inmate in a Pakistani jail is indeed Prahlad of Khamkheda village of Gourjhamar tehsil, Sagar district.

According to information received from the Ministry of External Affairs, Prahlad was caught by Pakistani Rangers in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). He was sent to a jail in Rawalpindi after being kept in PoK for about one-and-a-half months.

On Monday, the Pakistan government will hand over Prahlad to the Indian government at the Wagah Attari border. A team of Sagar police has reached Amritsar with Prahlad's family members. After the formalities, Prahlad will be handed over to his family members.