In 2016, Krishna Devi got lost at the Ardh Kumbh Mela in Haridwar. Her family kept looking, filed a missing person complaint and published ads, but no leads came up.
Five years on, a routine identity verification drive for the ongoing Maha Kumbh suddenly led to the 65-year-old woman in Rishikesh, now reunited with her family at long last. Krishna Devi’s story goes back to the loss of her daughter in 2016.
They crosschecked it with the missing report and contacted the family members to reunite her with her loved ones.
“She left home for Haridwar where the Ardh Kumbh was on,” Kumbh Mela Police sub-inspector Deepak Rawat told TOI. Overcome with grief, she drifted away, going from one shelter home to the other, either unable or unwilling to get in touch with her family in UP.
Meanwhile, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Kumbh Mela is being held for one month, rather than its usual four months.
