Three Class VI students of a boarding schools in Shimla, who went missing under mysterious circumstances on Saturday, were found 60 km away in a small town of Kotkhai after a 24 hours search operation, police said on Sunday, adding one person was arrested in this connection.
Shimla Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Gandhi said, “The students were found at Kokunala village in Kotkhai. Sumit Sood, a resident of Kokunala who runs a bakery, has been taken into custody. A lead came from a suspicious vehicle, which directed the course of the investigation. We also checked CCTV footage, phone records and found that calls were made from a virtual number originating in California. We have arrested the accused, who is an alumnus of the school, impounded the vehicle and recovered sharp-edged weapons. A kidnapping case was registered based on the principal’s complaint with the New Shimla police under Section 137(B) of the BNS,” the SP said, adding the students are all fine.
The SP added, “We will arrange for a medical examination to be conducted on them.”
SHO Manoj Thakur said, “About 150 police personnel were pressed into service to trace the missing boys. Besides, cyber teams were at work, and drones were deployed.”
Upon being informed, the families of the missing students arrived in Shimla and were accompanying police teams searching for them. The missing students hail from Kullu in Himachal Pradesh, Mohali in Punjab and Karnal in Haryana, while one of them is a distant relative of a minister in a neighbouring state, sources said. According to police, the boys left the school at around 12.05 pm on Saturday and failed to return by 5.30 pm, the deadline, prompting the school authorities to alert the police.
“The missing students were in school uniform. Two of them had left their cell phones in their hostel rooms. Collectively, they were carrying around Rs 3,000 when they left. No staff member accompanied them,” a source said.
A police officer said the boys had gone out on the school’s designated “Outing Day”, when students are allowed to leave the campus for up to six hours. CCTV footage showed the students leaving the school gate at 12.05 pm, after which no trace of them was found.
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“Apart from the missing boys, many other students also went to Mall Road. While some claimed the missing boys were with them, we checked CCTV footage from Mall Road and adjoining areas, but did not find them,” the officer said.
The officer further said, “The school administration is yet to provide any standard operating procedure (SOP) governing how students are allowed to leave the campus on Outing Day. We have learned that on several occasions, students have also hired private taxis to travel to different places in and around Shimla.” Himachal Education Minister Rohit Thakur commended Shimla police for their “excellent work”. “We will see if there was any shortcoming on part of the school management,” the minister added.
Meanwhile, repeated attempts to contact school representatives went unanswered.
