Couple offers money for info on missing son

CHENNAI: Tears filled the eyes of 58-year-old Dianne Chambers, an Australian national, as she narrated the story of her son young Ryan, who had embarked on a eight-month-tour of India on June 20, 2005 and had gone missing two months later at Rishikesh, and the travails of the family members in their quest to trace him.Accompanied by her husband Jock Chambers (60), who runs a telecommunication business and online store back at home, Dianne arrived at the police commissionerate here to meet senior officials to seek their help in finding her son after he was reportedly sighted in the city last year. The couple, residents of Mount Gambier, South Australia, have three sons — Aaron, Jarrad (both live in London) and Ryan, the youngest.Dianne said Ryan and his friend John Booker had flown to Chennai from Kuala Lumpur on June 20, 2005. A couple of days later, they visited Puducherry and over the next two months travelled to Kochi, Coimbatore, Goa, Ooty, Mangalore, Hampi and Varanasi. In Varanasi, Ryan had purchased a sitar and the duo arrived in Rishikesh on August 20.The young men had stayed at Sri Ved Niketan Ashram in Swargashram area and attended yoga sessions. They had also visited several tourist spots nearby. “On the evening of August 23, Ryan rang home and said he had seen everything he wanted to and wanted to come home,” she said.However, Ryan vanished the next morning wearing only shorts, leaving behind his belongings, cash, phone, passport in the room. John had lodged a complaint at the Laxman Jhula police station. Over the last six years, Ryan’s father, brothers and friends made several trips to India to find him, but they were all in vain. A website - www.ryanchambers.in - containing the story of their missing son was created. Similarly, www.Indiamike and www.theindiatree also took up their case.However, the couple’s hopes came alive, when they received a call from an Indian residing in their area in August this year, claiming that he had an encountered a youth matching Ryan’s photograph on the website at the Koyambedu bus terminus in 2010. “At the time, the Indian was not aware that he had been reported missing,” Dianne said. “He told us that the youth he spoke to was an Australian, had a beard and broken front teeth. He had a good look at his eyes and said he was 100 per cent sure that he was our son… Ryan had distinctive eyes…” she claimed.The couple announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for any information that would help them in tracing their son. They later met ADGP Ashish Bhengra, who heads the State Crime Record Bureau. The ADGP told Express that the parents suspected that their son was somewhere in India and could have taken to spirituality. He said the bureau would go through the missing persons databank. Also he would write to all district SPs in the State regarding the matter.