Udupi: Went missing in at 16 years, traced after 13 years as interior designer in Bengaluru

Mangalore Today News Network

Udupi, Oct 9, 2025: A special investigation team of the Udupi police has traced a person who as a 16-year-old first year pre-university student went missing from Mundkur village 13 years ago.

Ananthakrishna Prabhu, the then student of Vidyavardhaka Pre University College, Mundkur, Udupi district, was traced in Bengaluru at the age of 29, according to Hariram Shankar, Superintendent of Police, Udupi. He now works as an interior designer in Bengaluru.

Mr. Ananthakrishna Prabhu, son of Prabhakar Prabhu of Mundkur, left home on December 6, 2012, saying he was going to the nearby temple, but never returned leaving his family shattered and police puzzled. A missing complaint was registered at Karkala Rural Police Station later.

The family made all efforts to trace him but in vain.

“He left home because he did some mistake in the examination and did not want his family to know about them,” said Mr. Shankar.

“Mr. Prabhu spent two years working in a factory in Sakleshpur, where his employer helped him continue his studies. He later moved to Bengaluru and is now working as an interior designer,” Mr. Shankar said.

Mr. Prabhu was traced by a special team of the Udupi police formed specifically to trace missing children in the district during the last 15 years, the Superintendent of Police said.

The breakthrough came through the efforts of Deputy Superintendent of Police of Udupi Sub-Division Prabhu D.T., the Police Sub-Inspector Brahmavar Sudarshan Dodamani, PSI Udupi Town Eeranna Shiragumpi, and police personnel Imran, Chetan, Santosh Devadiga, and Mallayya Hiremath.

The team traced him in Bengaluru after tracking multiple leads, he said.

For Mr. Ananthakrishna’s family, who manage a small shop in Mundkur and are involved in the local temple administration, the news brought tears of joy and relief.

“The day he left home we searched various places in our village and nearby and also in Mangaluru. But we could not find him. We had also asked astrologers and made repeated prayers for his safe return. By the grace of God and with the support of the police department he is back now,” his father Mr. Prabhakar Prabhu said.