Missing 84YO Alzheimer's patient from Alwal found in Nalgonda after five days

Hyderabad: The 84-year-old Narasimha Rao from Alwal, an Alzheimer's patient, only remembers one word, Nalgonda – the name of his hometown. That's where Mr. Rao was found on 4 May, five days after he went missing from his home in Alwal.

Narasimha Rao used to wander around his house, but on 30 April, Saturday, he went out and never returned. Since then, the family has been worried and waiting for his return.

According to the Nalgonda Two Town police station SI, Rajasekhar Reddy, a woman who knew Mr. Rao's family found him in Attapur in Ranga Reddy district and brought him to the Nalgonda police station on Wednesday. The family, later, went to Nalgonda to bring him home.

Failure of Alwal police to identify Rao

Narasimha Rao was last spotted at Suchitra on CCTV cameras. On 30 April, a few hours after he left his house, a stranger found him on the road and took him to the Alwal police station at around 8:30 a.m, nearly three hours before his family filed a missing person report. Mr. Rao told the police that he is from Nalgonda and asked them for directions. The police directed him towards the Jubilee bus stand.

At around 11:30 a.m, after making several calls, Mr. Rao's grandson Pranay filed a missing person report at the Alwal police station.

"My grandfather has Alzheimer's and so he often thinks that he still lives in Nalgonda which is his hometown. But the police should have checked his Aadhar card which is always in his shirt pocket or at least made an attempt to verify where he lives," said Pranay.

He added, "The address listed in his Aadhar card is the address where he resides at Alwal, Hyderabad. Had the police made an attempt to make sure that he reached home safely, today my grandfather would have been home."

A week ago, Telangana DGP Mahendar Reddy said Telangana has the best surveillance system in the country. There are more than 9 lakh CCTV cameras in the state out of which 7 lakh are in Hyderabad, he said.