Missing Akola teens traced to Mumbai, escorted home

Four teenagers who had been reported missing from Akola earlier this month were traced to Mumbai and were taken safely into custody on Tuesday morning.

According to the Nirmal Nagar police, they learned about the matter when a team from the Balapur police station in Akola reached Mumbai late on Monday night. “The Akola police told us that they had traced the missing teenagers to our jurisdiction and we sent a team with them to conduct inquiries,” said senior police inspector Shrimant Shinde, Nirmal Nagar police station.

Based on information that the Akola police already had, the joint police team zeroed in on a slum in Nirmal Nagar and started making inquiries. Within a few hours, they were able to locate the house where the teenagers – three boys and a girl – were staying. All four had runaway from home on August 1 and their parents had subsequently reported them missing.

“Preliminary inquiries with them revealed that they had reached Mumbai only a day ago. Through local inquiries, they reached the slum and approached the landlord, who agreed to give them a room on rent to stay,” said an officer with the Nirmal Nagar police station, who was part of the operation.

The teenagers were subsequently taken to the police station where a diary entry was made and they were officially handed over to the Akola police. The Akola cops left with them late on Tuesday morning.

Superintendent of Police G Sreedhar (Akola police) said, “According to inquiries so far, all the four teenagers, who are friends and study together, had failed in an exam which had caused them a lot of stress. This led them to run away together. They had changed their SIM cards but were using the same handsets, due to which we were able to track their handsets using the IMEI numbers.”

He added that the exact reason behind their running away and their movements since August 1 would be clear once they reach Akola. “There is no information about any of them having fallen prey to any crimes or mistreatment during their time on the run,” Sreedhar said

Published on: Wednesday, August 10, 2022, 08:54 AM IST