Mumbai: After being scolded for not completing his mathematics homework, Shrinivas Hegde, 15, a standard 9 student of Kalyan’s Central Railway School & Jr College ran away from the class on Wednesday morning and has been missing since, said police. Hegde, a resident of Badlapur’s Kulgaon village, was last seen at Tiwala railway station, an hour after his disappearance, after which he has been untraceable. Kalyan’s Mahatma Phule Police have registered a kidnapping case and the search operation is underway.
According to police sources, Shrinivas, who stayed with his mother and sister at Kulgaon, had gone to school as usual on Wednesday morning. “Students were given homework, which Shrinivas failed to do. When the teacher, Gaurang Nayak, scolded him, Shrinivas burst into tears and ran away from school at 9.30am, leaving behind his school bag,” said Prakash Londhe, a senior inspector. Around 3.30pm, his sister received a call from the school claiming Shrinivas ran away without informing anyone.
Two hours later, when his mother, Prabhavati returned home, she immediately approached the police, who registered a case of kidnapping and began the investigation. The police said Prabhavati mentioned that Shrinivas was always scared of his mathematics teacher. During the course of investigation, Shrinivas was spotted at Titwala railway station’s platform no 2 at 10.30am on Wednesday. Police roped in the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in the search operation, but were unable to find him. Meanwhile, the police questioned the school authorities for not informing the police sooner that a student was missing. When the police questioned Shrinivas’ family, they said that the 15-year-old had run away from his house twice in the last two years.
In the first instance, he ran away to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and later went to his father’s house in Kanjurmarg. In the second instance, he ran away to Dadar and boarded an outstation train, but was luckily found by Childline India volunteers and brought back home. Kidnapping cases were filed in both the instances and the boy was counselled by a mental health professional.
