Delhi-based chartered accountancy (CA) student Shubham Maheshwari, who was missing for over a month, returned to his native place in Hathras on Monday night, police and his family confirmed.

According to the police, their preliminary investigation revealed that Shubham had gone to Nepal on his own and was teaching children there.

Shubham had gone missing on February 18 on his way to Hathras from Delhi. He had boarded a bus from Anand Vihar bus station and had last spoken to his mother on phone during a stopover at Jewar on his bus journey.

“We received information that Shubham returned to Hathras on Monday night. He had gone to Nepal after starting from Delhi. He stayed in Nepal for a month and was reportedly teaching children there,” said Ajay Sharma, station house officer (SHO), Jewar police station.

Shubham’s father Ambrish Maheshwari also confirmed his son’s return in a telephonic conversation with HT. However, he refused to reveal where Shubham had been all this time.

“Shubham has returned home and is okay. We are extremely happy to have our son back and would like to thank his friends and the police for their cooperation. This is all we would like to say at the moment. Further information will be provided in a day or two,” he said.

After the CA student’s disappearance, his family and friends had launched a social media campaign with the hashtag #findingShubham. A missing persons case was lodged at Jewar police station as his phone was last traced to Jewar.

After the case was lodged, police had started to look for Shubham and a Jewar police team visited 30 districts in the state searching for him. Pamphlets and posters seeking information about him had been put in many places across western UP. His parents too went to villages in Bulandshahr, Agra and Aligarh to look for him. #casansaar (Hindustan Times)