SSLC: Rescued boy earns laurels

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Eleven years ago, policemen on temple festival duty saved him from the hands of suspected kidnappers who were posing as his parents. More than a decade later, Wednesday marked a special moment in the youngster’s life when Social Welfare Minister M K Muneer presented him a medal for passing the SSLC examination with 75 per cent marks. The story of Vasudevan is an extraordinary one.
 Eleven years ago, suspicious policemen had taken into custody a couple who were found begging at the festival at the Sree Bhavaneeswara Temple, Palluruthy. The reason for their arrest was a surprising one; the child did not resemble its ‘parents’ at all. The child, who looked about five, spent that night in police custody, and the next day he was presented before the High Court.
 Justice V P Mohan Kumar, who heard the case, ordered that he should be handed over to the Sri Sathya Sai Orphanage Trust.
 ‘’The very next day we received him. We named him Vasudevan and he was raised at the Sai Niketan, Kochi, Trust executive director K N Anandakumar said. At the time, Trust officials noted that the boy looked as if he belonged to a well-to-do Tamil family, and this suspicion strengthened as the boy kept uttering ‘Madurai.’’’
 He also had a telephone number with him, but no one attended the calls and all efforts to trace his parents reached a dead end. Vasudevan is spending the summer vacation at the Sai Gramam, Thonnackal.
 At Wednesday’s function, his friends at the orphanage also were present to cheer him on.