Bihar man missing for 21 years returns home after family spots him in Facebook video

The Facebook video was only a few minutes long, but for one Bihar family, it held the answer to a 21-year-old question. A man who disappeared from his village at 15 was finally recognised by his family after his photograph and story appeared on social media.

Ram Shankar Kushwaha, now 36, returned to his ancestral village in Bihar’s Madhubani district on September 7, more than two decades after he went missing.

In 2005, when Shankar was 15, he was experiencing some mental health difficulties. Around the same time, a bhandara was organised in the village, attended by saints and religious mendicants from different places.

As per his family, Shankar was fascinated by trains. When the visiting saints began leaving after the event, he may have followed them and boarded a train. He eventually lost his way and never made it back home.

His elder brother, Lalit Shastri, said that Shankar spent years moving from one place to another before reaching Gwalior railway station in Madhya Pradesh. He worked various jobs to survive, but his condition gradually deteriorated.

In 2018, local police took him to a government shelter home in Gwalior. He remained there for nearly eight years.

In September 2026, Gwalior Police Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Santosh Patel visited the shelter and met Shankar. During their conversation, Shankar could not recall his exact address but remembered his name, his father’s name, and details about his family’s six bighas of land and the crops grown there.

The DSP recorded the interaction and posted the video on social media, asking people to help identify him.

On September 4, Shankar’s elder brother spotted the Facebook post. Lalit, who runs a motorcycle parts shop in their village, immediately recognised him and contacted the number shared with the video.

When their 70-year-old mother, Lakshmi Devi, saw the video, she broke down in tears.

“This is my son Shankarbha,” she said in the local dialect.

The family soon spoke to Shankar over a video call, leaving him emotional as well. But bringing him home required paperwork, as Shankar had never attended school and had no official identity documents.

After his identity was verified, his brother and cousin travelled to Gwalior to bring him back.

When Shankar finally reached his home on September 7, his return became a moment of celebration for the entire village.

His father said the family had eventually lost hope of finding him. After 21 years, however, Shankar was finally home, with a Facebook video helping bridge a gap that had lasted more than two decades.