How Amateur Radio Operators in West Bengal Track Down Missing Persons Throughout India and Reconnect Families Across Borders

Key Points

In one of the largest cross border rescue efforts led by amateur radio volunteers, 29 Indians suffering from memory loss have been brought back from Nepal to India after years of being untraceable. The repatriation was completed on Sunday, 18 January 2026, through the Jogbani border at Araria, Bihar, in a coordinated operation involving the Indian Embassy in Nepal, several Nepali and Indian voluntary organisations, and HAM radio enthusiasts from the West Bengal Radio Club (WBRC).

The group included 17 men and 12 women who had wandered into Nepal from different districts of West Bengal and other states. Many of the 29 had been living in care homes in Nepal, unable to recall their identities. One of them was 31-year-old Abhishek Ghosh from Natagarh in Sodepur, WB, who had been missing for several years. After arrival in India, the returnees were scheduled to receive medical care before being reunited with families.

WBRC secretary Ambarish Nag Biswas told Times of India that families of the missing had feared their names could be deleted from electoral rolls under the SIR process. “Acting on requests from families of the missing persons, HAM radio operators and West Bengal Radio Club approached both the Indian Embassy in Nepal and the Nepal Embassy in Kolkata, urging the early return of Indian nationals,” he said.

The mission involved the participation of Nepal’s Manav Sevashram Sangh, the Nepal Lions Club, and Biratnagar Green City Lions Club, along with Maharashtra-based Dr. Bharat Vatwani Shraddha Rehabilitation Centre.

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WBRC Tracks Down Missing Persons

This latest rescue is part of a much wider, largely unseen network of amateur radio operators in Bengal who track missing people across borders using contacts, local clues, language identification, and persistent follow up.

In December 2025, the same network facilitated the return of Sudam Hembram, an intellectually disabled man from Mayurbhanj in Odisha who had been estranged from his family for 15 years in Bangladesh. A Bangladeshi NGO run by Mohammad Abdul Gani Fitoor spotted Sudam roaming near Golabari railway station and contacted Biswas of WBRC. Sudam was recognised partly because he chanted “Joy Jagannath,” prompting a connection to India. After two days of searching, his address was traced to Jagannathpur village in Odisha. A video call was arranged with his nephew, and the High Commission of India in Dhaka formally handed him over at the Haridaspur Benapole border.

A month earlier, in November 2025, WBRC helped trace a woman named Radhika, who had gone missing nearly 20 years earlier during a pilgrimage to Gangasagar. Speaking to IANS, Biswas said that Radhika “was found begging on the streets” in Bangladesh. When contacted, Biswas continued, she only said one word, “Sagar,” which led operators to search for missing persons linked to that name. They eventually identified her as being from Khajra village in Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh.

“She had travelled to Gangasagar with a team of pilgrims, got lost, joined a Bangladeshi group, and reached Bangladesh by trawler,” Biswas said. After being cleaned at a parlour, her son Rajesh recognised her immediately from photographs. Rajesh told IANS, “My mother had gone on a pilgrimage, but her return will be no short of a pilgrimage for me.”

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In October 2025, WBRC also helped return a trafficked Nepali woman from Uttar Pradesh to her homeland. Kolkata resident Sujoy Ghosh found her wandering aimlessly and contacted the radio club when local help did not materialise. With assistance from Ghaziabad Police, she was rescued and admitted to Pandeypur Mental Hospital in Varanasi. After video calls and language identification, WBRC contacted the Nepal Consulate in Kolkata and the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu. Biswas told Millennium Post that the woman’s address was eventually traced to Sarlahi district in Nepal through a local councillor.

In July 2025, ham radio operators traced a 28-year-old woman, Sarma Khatun, missing for eight years from Islampur in Uttar Dinajpur, WB. Bangladeshi amateur operator Muhammed Abdul Gani Fitu found her at Golabari railway station in Chapainawabganj and contacted WBRC. “I was surprised that she is from India,” Fitu told The Indian Express, adding that she appeared intellectually disabled. WBRC operator Sanjib Sarma worked with a local panchayat member to locate her parents, Sukur Ali and Rohida Bibi, in Golabari village. After a video call, Rohida Bibi said, “I thought my daughter was dead. We had lost hope.” Fitu informed Bangladeshi police and placed Sarma in a government home pending formal repatriation through border authorities.

The same system worked in 2021 for Razia Bibi, a 55-year-old Bangladeshi woman found unconscious in Jhargram, West Bengal. Teachers alerted WBRC, which identified her language and origin. She later spoke to her nephew on video call from Jhargram Super Speciality Hospital, enabling family reconnection in Barishal, Bangladesh.

In 2019, ham radio played a crucial role in reuniting Tamil Nadu resident Janaki Raman with his family after 11 years. He had been living as a vagabond before being admitted to Bangaon Subdivisional Hospital in West Bengal. Hospital authorities involved WBRC. Biswas told The Hindu that it took months to record his voice and identify his language as Tamil. Bengaluru based ham operator Manjunath R spoke to him by phone, posed as a relative, and extracted details of his village. His mother recognised him from photographs sent by police.

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Beyond individual cases, WBRC has built a consistent model of humanitarian communication that combines radio networks, hospitals, NGOs, police, embassies, and local panchayats. The club’s website has a page dedicated to missing persons, and members often volunteer in disaster relief efforts, such as during the Aila cyclone, Odisha super cyclone, Nepal earthquake, and Bhuj earthquake. They also provide annual support at the Gangasagar Mela.

What began as a hobby of radio communication has evolved into a lifesaving, cross border rescue network that quietly restores identities and families long thought lost.

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