Two Bathinda school girls go missing, cops’ hunt on

Two 11th-grade girls from meritorious school near Sports College on Kapurthala Road went missing on Monday. The disappearance has prompted an intensive police investigation and an FIR has been registered in this connection.

According to initial reports, the girls attended the school as usual on Monday and had gone out after the classes were over. Till evening, the girls didn’t return to the school’s hostel, after which the warden alerted the school management about their absence. Both girls hail from Bathinda.

On the complaint of girls’ parents, who arrived in the city today, an FIR has been lodged and they are working closely with the police, helping them to locate the girls at every place they believe both could go.

Victor Masih, SHO from the Basti Bawa Khel police station, said they had launched an investigation. CCTV cameras from the area captured the images of the girls near the school, but their subsequent whereabouts remained unknown. The police have mobilised special teams to trace the girls’ route by reviewing additional CCTV footages.

He said both girls were not having mobile phones, thus no call records were available through which it could be known who was the last person they talked to. “We have alerted the neighbouring police stations as well as personnel at nearby bus stands and railway stations in a bid to locate the students”, he added.