Often under criticism for turning away and behaving rudely with complainants, on-duty police personnel showed up their brighter side by swinging into action immediately after the parents of a teenage girl arrived to register a complaint about their daughter who had mysteriously gone missing along with her friend from their residential locality in the Shanti Park area of Mira Road on Thursday.
The cops not only ensured that the tense complainants were reunited with their children within five hours but also sent them back home with a smile.
The girls had left home after being scolded. The parents had raised suspicion that their 15-year-old daughter and her friend had been kidnapped.
Sensing the seriousness of the matter, Senior Police Inspector Sandip Kadam registered an offence under section 363 of the IPC and swiftly deputed special teams to trace both the girls.
Apart from checking footage captured by the CCTV cameras and activating electronic surveillance, the police team alerted their core informer network and counterparts in neighbouring police stations, even as the girl’s photographs were circulated at bus stops, railway stations and other public places.
“Based on inputs gathered by our teams, we zeroed in on specific areas in Mumbai like Juhu Beach and finally found them in Andheri within five hours of filing the complaint,” said Inspector Sandip Kadam.
It came to light that one of the girls left her house after her mother scolded her over some issue, she was then accompanied by her friend.
The girls both Class X students have been safely reunited with their parents, police said.
