When a Class 7 boy got scolded by his mother, he decided to leave home to meet the famous spiritual leader Premanand Maharaj. In a shocking turn of events in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, 12-year-old Virat, also called Veer Soni, cycled over 400 kilometres to Vrindavan, hoping to see the revered seer.
Hailing from Pink City, Budheshwar, the boy secretly left home after his mother reprimanded him for his poor school performance.
The Class 7 boy left home on August 20. His father, Dheeraj Verma, runs a jewellery shop near Dhaniyamahri Bridge.
The boy had asked his mother, Aarti Soni, for Rs 100 to buy books, but she scolded him for not paying attention to his studies and said she would tell his father when he got home. Upset, the boy quietly decided to leave with only the 100-rupee note. At around 4:15 PM, he rode his Ranger bicycle and began his journey to Vrindavan, according to Dainik Bhaskar.
When the boy didn’t return home that evening, his worried mother told his father, and they immediately went to the local police.
They filed a missing person report at Para Police Station at 8 PM. Vishwajeet Srivastava, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West), took the case seriously and formed teams to find the boy.
During the investigation, police discovered that the boy had searched for Mathura on his mother’s phone. They then checked nearby CCTV cameras and got their first lead from a video near Dr. Shakuntala Misra National Rehabilitation University, showing the boy riding towards the Agra Expressway around 6 PM.
The footage also showed that he had crossed the Kakori toll plaza at 8:47 PM. Police kept tracking him along the same road and saw him reach the 245-kilometre mark around 10 PM. But after 248 kilometres, he disappeared from sight. Officers questioned nearby patrol teams but found no clues. Disappointed, they shifted their search to the route leading to Mathura.
The Boy Hitchhiked After Cycling 245 Kilometres
Police later learned that the boy, exhausted after cycling 245 kilometres, decided to hitch a ride. He stopped a truck, asked for help, and got on it with his bicycle. The driver stayed in Kanpur for two days to pick up goods, and Virat went along. On the morning of August 23, the driver dropped him on the Yamuna Expressway around 9 AM.
From there, he cycled to Gauri Gopal Ashram, a place he had visited with his parents before. That day, he also visited the Banke Bihari Temple, Chardham, Premanand Maharaj Ashram, ISKCON Temple, and Shri Krishna Janma Bhoomi.
The Boy Was Found at Aniruddhacharya’s Ashram
After three days of searching, police finally found the boy at Aniruddhacharya’s Ashram in Vrindavan. He told them that he often watched videos of Premanand Maharaj and really wanted to meet him. Using his mother’s phone, he had checked the route and distance before starting his bold journey. But even after reaching Vrindavan, he wasn’t able to meet the revered seer.