Group of 4 students goes missing in Hathras

LUCKNOW: Three schoolchildren and one college student have been missing for almost a week from Mursan town of Hathras district.
While the schoolchildren—two girls and a boy—had gone to school to appear for their board exam, the college student was pursuing BSc in a private college. All four of them lived in the same neighbourhood. The three minors were classmates and the 19-year-old was a friend of one of the girls.

The parents of the girls have filed an FIR accusing the boys of their abduction. They said they had dropped their daughters to GSAS Inter College for their English exam but when the exam got over, the two were nowhere to be found. Neither the girls nor the boy in the group had taken the exam.

The college student, Praveen Rawat, also went missing on the same day.

When police went to Praveen’s house, they found the house locked. Fearing arrest and harassment, parents of both boys are missing.

Police said that the schoolboy had stolen the ATM card of his older brother posted as a CRPF jawan in Jammu & Kashmir. He had used the card to withdraw Rs 10,000 in Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh, on March 1. Since then, there has been no information on the group’s whereabouts.

“Had police acted soon after being informed, the accused could have been apprehended in Neemuch. They kept saying that our children had eloped and would return on their own,” said the father of one of the girls.

Hathras police superintendent Ghule Sushil Chandrabhan said, “I have asked the surveillance cell to pursue the case. A team is camping at a location where Praveen is expected on Monday.” Sub-inspector Sushil Kumar Sharma said, “Because offices of telephone operators were shut for Holi, we could not trace the group.”