Festivals mean time well-spent with the families for many. It was no different for this head constable, Annadurai, who is part of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Coimbatore; except that the police landed at his doorstep after a colleague filed a missing person complaint.
According to news reports, K Annadurai, who is a native of Orathanadu in Thanjavur district, wanted to visit his family in his native. He had requested for leave for Deepavali to his senior officers a few days ago but was rejected. However, he took off, without informing anybody in his office, which prompted his colleagues to launch a search for him.
Annadurai, according to his colleagues, was last seen going to take a shower at the camp office on Saturday evening. Since he did not return even after several hours, his colleagues, in an effort to search for him, combed the camp office and the Coimbatore Central Jail premises, only in vain.
Attempts to reach him on his mobile phone turned futile since he had switched his phone off on Saturday and Sunday. Panicking on a colleague missing, his co-worker Loordhusamy lodged a formal complaint at the Race Course police station claiming that Annadurai was missing.
The Race Course police, on a mission to trace him, decided to visit his family in Orathanadu and found Annadurai relaxing at his house. A surprised Annadurai was taken aback when the police came for him and assured them that he was doing well and that he just wanted to celebrate the festival with his family.
The incident was later pegged as a by-product of the work-life of a CRPF cop as it is known that employees and workers who are involved in providing essential emergency services, like ambulance, fire and rescue services, hospital and police, have to sacrifice the little joys of lives by opting to stay away from their families during times of festivals.