Suraj Kumar, the 12-year-old boy who was found in a ditch near Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) with burn injuries, was reunited with his parents on Sunday, eight months after he ran away from home.

The boy, who is recovering at the health hub in the state capital, also named the person who had allegedly thrown boiling oil on him.

Suraj was admitted to the burns ward of PMCH on March 11. The next day, he walked out of the ward, only to fall in a ditch 50m away from the burns ward. He lay in the ditch for almost two days before a member of non-government organisation Childline found him and brought him back to the hospital.

Suraj’s parents came to know about their son from Childline about two days ago, almost a fortnight since the boy was admitted to the hispital. They reached the state capital from Sonbhadra in Uttar Pradesh to take back their son.

Ram Nihor Bharti, Suraj’s father, said the boy ran away from his home around eight months ago without telling anyone after being rebuked by his mother. “We looked for him in an around Sonbhadra, but could not trace him. Just a few days ago, we received information from the Allahabad wing of Childline that Suraj was admitted to the hospital in Patna with critical injuries,” added Bharti, a rickshawpuller in Sonbhadra.

Suraj, who is yet to recover from the trauma, told The Telegraph: “The owner of Gopi Hotel, a makeshift eatery under a tree near the Patna Junction area, threw boiling oil on me following an altercation over washing utensils.”

The boy, however, could not remember the “real name” of the hotel owner and said the man was known as Gopi Hotelwala.

Police had registered a case around a fortnight ago but nobody was named in the case. City superintendent of police Ms Kim told The Telegraph on Sunday: “We had registered a case against unknown persons. But as the boy has named the person now, we will book him soon.”

The police had swung into action to find out under what circumstances the boy was burnt and was brought to the hospital on March 11. Chief minister Nitish Kumar had also ordered a probe into the incident.

Pankaj Kumar, the representative of Childline, said: “The boy is still in trauma. He told us that he used to work in a hotel after being repeatedly asked. He also said that his employer had thrown boiling oil on him.”