A 14-year-old Tripura boy was rescued from the Sealdah-bound Kanchenjungha Express on Monday after he had apparently fled home to meet Sourav Ganguly.

The Class VIII student from Agartala was spotted travelling alone on the train by a co-passenger, who informed the Railway Protection Force. The RPF personnel took him with them to Sealdah where the train arrived late on Monday evening.

The passenger had informed the RPF that the boy had been asking for directions to the BCCI president’s Behala residence, said an RPF official. The boy told the RPF that he had left home to meet the former Indian cricket captain and ask for an opportunity to learn the sport at his academy.

“The boy broke down, claiming opportunities for learning cricket are limited in Agartala. He seldom gets the opportunity there…. Moreover, his parents do not support his dream, he claimed,” said an RPF officer.

The RPF authorities contacted Tripura police and his father, a schoolteacher. The father took a flight and arrived here late on Monday night to take the boy back home.

The boy’s father, who had lodged a complaint of suspected abduction, expressed his gratitude to the passenger who could not be identified. “I am eternally indebted to the police for their sincere approach and that man who alerted the RPF,” said the boy’s father.

The father said the boy did not return home from a private tutorial on Saturday. He, however, denied the boy’s allegation of having discouraged his pursuit of cricket.

During the probe, the Tripura police had spotted the boy in several areas, in closed-circuit television camera footage, but were unable to trace him.