Teen cycles 300km to Delhi to meet his favourite YouTuber

City police locate the boy in Pitampura, reunite him with his family in Patiala

A 13-year-old boy, who left his home in Patiala, Punjab, on a bicycle and travelled around 300 km to Delhi to meet his favourite YouTuber, was traced by the Delhi police and was reunited with his family.

The boy was missing since Tuesday morning when he left for school, the police said. A case was registered in Patiala and the Delhi police were alerted about it at Maurya Enclave police station as the YouTuber, Nishay Malhan, lives in Pitampura.

A police team was sent to trace the missing child; thorough searches were conducted and information regarding the boy was circulated to the RWAs on their WhatsApp groups, the police said.

CCTV footage were analysed and a boy on a bicycle was seen in near the residential colony of the Youtuber. He, however, was not able to meet Mr. Malhan who had left for Dubai to attend a function, DCP (North West) Usha Rangnani said.

On learning about the boy’s disappearance, Mr. Malhan tweeted, “This is serious, if anybody has any information, please contact the police or the undersigned. I’m not in Delhi and travelling in Dubai, without network, will keep posted about this however much I can.”

The police followed all the possible routes theboy could take and eventually traced him to Pitampura around 5 p.m. on Friday. The boy told the police he wanted to meet Mr. Mlahan because he was inspired by his videos.

The boy’s grandfather said his grandson was “misguided”. He said the police had scanned CCTV camera footage from Patiala to Karnal for two days. “A police officer called me and promised to locate my grandson; they kept their words,” he said.