As the case involves minors, a case of missing persons was registered, and an investigation was launched, police said.
Published Jul 18, 2024 | 2:14 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 18, 2024 | 2:14 PM
(Representative/ iStock)
Three teenage girls were found missing from an orphanage in Aluva in Kochi, on Thursday, 18 July, police said.
However, Aluva East police clarified that it is not a case of kidnapping. As per the preliminary enquiry they have left out the orphanage on their own accord. The girls aged 15, 16, and 18, inmates of Mathru Sakthi, Vidyarthi Sadanam, left the orphanage on the intervening night of 17 and 18 July.
According to the CCTV footage accessed by the police, the girls left via the back gate of the orphanage and were going towards the highways. The police received the complaint on Thursday morning at around 7:30 am.
As the case involves minors, a case of missing persons was registered, and an investigation was launched to find out the whereabouts of the teenagers, police said.
While the police are yet to confirm whether they took a bus or an auto rickshaw from the highway, they circulated the information of the missing girls in WhatsApp groups of private bus owners, auto rickshaws and KSRTC. The information had been passed to railway authorities too.
Local police said that they are accessing more CCTV footage from nearby areas and have formed four teams. They also confirmed that no such cases had been reported from the orphanage before.
(Edited by Sumavarsha Kandula, with inputs from Sreelakshmi Soman and PTI)
