Police in the northern town of Bareilly say they used the instant messaging service to send out the boy's photo to several mobile phones in the area.
A man named Daanish, who was travelling on a train, had received the WhatsApp alert, he recognised the boy sitting near him and called the police.
The Indian police used various ways to publicise the boy's story. They printed pamphlets and pasted them around Bareilly. They uploaded a digital copy of the poster on WhatsApp with the missing boy's photo and sent it out as a chain message on WhatsApp.
"By chance, the message reached the right person," said the police.
The boy's father Paramjit Singh said his son had left home at around 0700 local time (0130 GMT) on Sunday for a ride on his bicycle, but did not return for many hours.
"We called all our relatives and friends, but couldn't trace him. So we went to the police for help," he added.
It is not clear how the child ended up on the train and police say they are investigating what happened during the hours that he left home and was finally traced.
My thoughts
Wow! One of the many benefits of the social and new media. Thank goodness the boy has reunited with his family.
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