UP man missing for a decade found solving math problems on soil at Petrapole border

In an unusual incident that took place at the Indo-Bangla Petrapole border, a man was seen solving mathematical problems on wet soil with a stick.

The locals in Petrapole Bazar noticed the man who is said to be in his early 40s in ragged clothes.

Upon noticing the man, the locals informed the police about him. The police found that the man named Amit Kumar Prasad originally belongs to Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur and was a mathematics teacher, as reported by The Times Of India.

The police also said that he has been missing for over a decade, and they helped him reunite with his family.

His father Gama Prasad said that Amit used to teach mathematics at school. The publication quoted Gama Prasad saying that Amit also taught students who belonged to poor families, free of cost.

"Besides teaching students at the school, my son taught mathematics to more than 250 students from poor families in at least five neighbouring villages, free of cost. His love for mathematics began during childhood and he started teaching early," his father said.

"Later he suffered from a mental ailment and went missing. We looked for him for years, all in vain. We never expected to see him alive after so many years," his father added.

The man was reunited with his family with the help of people of Ham Radio.

A Ham Radio operator told TOI that the locals asked him about his identity when they found him solving math problems on wet soil. However, he did not reply and went further away from them.

The man insisted the locals to leave him alone, after which they alerted the police.

Secretary of West Bengal Radio Club, Ambarish Nag Biswas told TOI that the police contacted them to help find the man's family.

"I spoke to the man and circulated his photo in the network of Ham radio operators across India to start the search for his family. Later we got in touch with his father," he said.