Gorakhpur: A frantic four-hour search for a missing Class 4 boy in Gorakhpur ended dramatically when police, aided by a sniffer dog, found him fast asleep inside his house in a corner where he hid to avoid tuition.
The boy, 10-year-old Lakshya Pratap Singh, had gone out to play around 5 pm Wednesday but did not return, prompting his family to suspect kidnapping, police said.
His grandfather, Sadanand Singh, lodged a complaint at Chiluatal police station, after which police circulated the child's photo across stations and WhatsApp groups, and launched checks at railway stations and bus stands, the police said on Thursday.
With no trace of the child, SP (North) Jitendra Kumar Srivastava called in the dog squad.
Sniffer dog "Tony", a seven-year-old Doberman, was given Lakshya's shirt to sniff. Within minutes, Tony ran upstairs inside the house and began barking at a locked room. When police broke it open, the boy was found sleeping in a corner.
On being woken, Lakshya admitted he had hidden to avoid tuition as his homework was incomplete.
"I thought I'd come out after the teacher left, but I fell asleep," he told police.
SP Srivastava said multiple teams were deployed fearing abduction, but the boy was safely handed over to his family. Dog squad in-charge Dhaneshwar Chauhan credited Tony's instincts with saving crucial time in the search.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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