Taken for ride, drowning that wasn’t

Gurdaspur, July 15

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In a dramatic turnaround of events, the two girls believed to have drowned in the Upper Bari Doab Canal while clicking selfies early Friday morning had concocted the story to run away from home, the younger sister of one of them told the police late last night.

The news of drowning had resulted in scores of divers, Army and police personnel being deployed for close to 18 hours. Around 10 pm yesterday, the administration substantially reduced the flow of water in the canal in the area where the girls were said to have drowned. An hour later, the Army divers informed the administration that they could not locate the bodies despite scouting every inch of the canal. Police officers then started expressing doubts about whether the girls had actually drowned or the story was cooked up.

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The focus then shifted to Sophia, the younger sister of Lovepreet Kaur (21), who was believed to have slipped in the canal along with her friend Nisha (18).

After two hours of sustained questioning, Sophia finally wilted and told the cops that the “entire incident had been cooked up”.

She told the police that leave alone getting drowned, the girls had not even gone near the bridge and had just slipped into a waiting car.

At one point of time during her questioning, Sophia said her sister and her friend had gone to Mumbai, “where they wanted to eke out a decent living”. However, the police felt it could be another diversionary tactic.

SSP BS Virk has sent police teams to various cities, including Chandigarh. He said a case would be registered only after the girls were found. “As of now, no case can be made out because neither have the bodies been traced, nor have the girls surfaced,” he added. — TNS