Khilafatpur village in Bihar’s Buxar district erupted in joy on Tuesday evening when one of its natives, 35-year-old Chhavi Musahar (35), presumed long dead by his family, returned home after spending 12 years in a Pakistani jail, locals and police said.
Buxar district magistrate Aman Samir told HT a police team had been sent on April 8 to bring him back from Punjab, after Pakistan handed him over to the Border Security Force at the Wagah-Attari border.
“In May 2021, Pakistani authorities informed the Indian government about Musahar lodged in Karachi jail. In December last year, Bihar Police’s special branch wrote a letter to Buxar police. Later, a police team visited his native place and found the information to be true,” Samir said.
Musahar, who earlier worked at a brick kiln, had accidentally strayed into Pakistan from Punjab. His family claimed he was “mentally weak” and in 2009, he mysteriously disappeared on way to his in-laws’ home. The family searched for him for two years, in vain.
In 2011, assuming that he might be dead, Musahar’s family members performed his last rites.
In the meantime, his wife since 2007 delivered their child, a boy, at her parents’ home at Chandi village in Bhojpur district. She later remarried.
Upon reaching his village on Tuesday, Musahar recognized his mother, Virti Devi, and touched her feet.
According to Musahar, all he could remember now was that he had boarded Lal Quila Express train to reach Kulharia railway station under Danapur rail division of East Central Railway but somehow reached Amritsar in Punjab. He was, however, unable to remember how and when he crossed over to Pakistan.
“Three years ago, I got to know I was in Pakistan jail,” he said. “I was also tortured. I am lucky I came home safely,” he said.
Talking about his wife, Musahar expressed shock that his wife Anita Devi had got married to someone else from the same village in his absence. He is though happy to hear about his son, who was born after his disappearance. “I will try to meet my son and wife,” he said.
