CHENNAI: After months of agony, 16 Manipuri children who were recently rescued from a locked house in the city, had a reason to cheer. They were on their way back home after boarding the Dibrugarh Express at Chennai Central on Thursday.
With smiles lighting up their faces, they bid adieu to the members of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Chennai, who were their caretakers ever since they were freed from the horror house of Immanuel, head of Reach Home Children Foundation, an unregistered NGO, on January 21. Two social welfare officers from the city accompanied the children on their return trip to Manipur ensure safety.
Another development during the day added to the children’s ecstasy. They got to meet three other fellow Manipuri kids who were inmates of the horror house but were reported missing.
CWC’s Chennai chapter first learnt about the missing children after its Manipur counterpart interacted with the rescued kids, who informed that on the day Immanuel’s Sholinganallur house was raided, he shoved the trio into an almirah.
It was speculated that Immanuel had later smuggled them out of the house and kept them in his custody.
But the CB-CID, which is probing the case, learnt from Immanuel’s lawyer that he had already sent the three children back home. The sleuths asked him to fetch the children. Accordingly, Easter, a Manipuri woman who earlier worked for Immanuel, escorted the trio from Manipur to Chennai.
The CB-CID later handed over the three children, Thamwar (7), Ngambar (9) and Serima (8) to Dr Manorama, chairperson of CWC, Chennai, who sent them to a children’s home at Kellys. They would be sent to Manipur after a through check-up, she said. One other child who was rescued from the house hailed from Tamil Nadu. Immanuel is still at large.