In Jhajjar, 3 students go missing in 24 hours

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, December 26

Two schoolgirls aged 12 and 16 years of the town’s Silani Gate area have been reportedly missing for the past 24 hours. The girls left for a coaching centre on Thursday afternoon. There has been no trace of the two since then.

Also, a 12-year-old schoolboy of Sitaram Gate locality went for a walk on Thursday. He did not return home. The incidents have caused panic among local residents who called on Superintendent of Police (SP) Ashok Kumar today and registered a protest against the “deteriorating” law and order in the city. Subsequently, the SP constituted three teams under the DSP to trace the missing students. The residents have threatened to observe a ‘bandh’ if the police fail to find them by 4 pm tomorrow.

“My daughter, who is in Class VII, left for her tutor’s house at 3 pm on Thursday. She was accompanied by a Class X schoolgirl. Both are missing. They were caught on a CCTV camera walking together at 4.38 pm,” said the father of the younger girl.

“My son, studying in Class VIII, went out for morning walk and did not returm. We fear something terrible may have happened to him. The police should act swiftly,” pleaded the boy’s mother. Jitender, SHO, City Police, ruled out kidnapping, pointing out that in the CCTV footage, the girls, holding hands, were seen walking towards the city and boarding an auto.

“We questioned the auto driver who said the girls had disembarked in front of the new bus stand. In the boy’s case, the police team that visited his school was told he had performed poorly in his unit tests,” the SHO claimed.

The SP said the police were on the job. “We have learnt that one of the girls would often chat with a boy on the cellphone. Efforts are on to identify the boy. Simultaneously, patrolling has been intensified and nakas raised at various points in the city,” he added.

Later in the day, a police spokesperson claimed to have traced the boy to his maternal uncle’s house in Nangloi (Delhi). He refused to give any details.