Judge aspirant who went missing during train journey finally found after 12 days

A female lawyer and civil judge aspirant, Archana Tiwari, who was reported missing while travelling on a train nearly two weeks ago, was traced in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Khiri town on Nepal border on Tuesday, a police official said.

Tiwari, who was heading to Katni from Indore on the intervening nights of August 7-8 for Rakshabandhan festival, did not reach her destination and was missing since then.

"Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel finally traced Archana Tiwari in Lakhimpur-Khiri town on the Indo-Nepal border after 12 days of hectic search," SP (Railways) Rahul Kumar Lodha said.

Cops are bringing her back to Bhopal and after recording her statement, details of the entire episode will be known, he said.

Tiwari's kin earlier suspected that she was a victim of humana trafficking and sought a CBI probe, but Lodha did not say anything about this angle.

According to police, the last location of the 29-year-old lawyer was traced to Itarsi station. After that, her mobile phone was found switched off.

Tiwari was a practicing lawyer at the Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. She was also preparing for a civil judge examination.

She left for Katni on August 7 by the Narmada Express train, but did not reach her destination. Tiwari's family members later lodged a missing person complaint at the Rani Kamalapati GRP police station in Bhopal.

Police searched for clues in areas ranging from Rani Kamalapati station to Itarsi and Katni, and scanned CCTV cameras of stations and surrounding areas.

Lodha said Tiwari's last location was Itarsi station.