Three missing schoolkids found eating langar at shrine after 48-hour search

The three children, residents of Colony 4, Industrial Area Phase-1 and studying in the same school, took a train to Delhi without ticket, visited Red Fort, ate at a gurdwara and returned by train without ticket on Monday afternoon.

The family members accompanied over 55 police personnel, including members of specialised units, operations cell, anti-human trafficking wing, to get a clue about the missing children. (Representational Image/File)

Upset at being scolded for waking up late in the morning, a student of Class IX, along with two other schoolmates, disappeared on Saturday, leaving their parents panic-stricken. The three children, residents of Colony 4, Industrial Area Phase-1 and studying in the same school, took a train to Delhi without ticket, visited Red Fort, ate at a gurdwara and returned by train without ticket on Monday afternoon. Two of them were classmates while the third was in a class below them. On Monday, they were expected to join school after a 40-day summer vacation.

The family members accompanied over 55 police personnel, including members of specialised units, operations cell, anti-human trafficking wing, did not leave a single stone unturned to get a clue about the missing children and on Monday afternoon, they found them eating at a community kitchen at Sai Mandir in Sector 29. The children’s parents filed an FIR, alleging their children had been kidnapped.

Satish (13), Kuldeep (14) and Chander Mohan (11) were handed over to their parents after completing legal formalities.

Bhola Parsad, father of Satish, who was scolded by his mother, said, “Satish is my third child out of four. On Saturday, it was 10 am when he refused to get out of bed and my wife, Rinku Devi, scolded him for not waking up early. She caught him by the hair and told him to complete his school homework for the summer vacation. Satish got angry and left home, saying he will never come back. My wife took it lightly. We got nervous on Saturday night when we found that two other boys of the same locality were also missing. We reported the matter to the police.” Parsad is a welder working in Industrial Area.

A member of the operations cell, which found the children, said, “Kuldeep told us that they reached Chandigarh railway station on Saturday, heard an announcement saying, “Passengers for Delhi come to Platform 1” and boarded the train. He further stated that they went to Red Fort and also ate at a gurdwara nearby. According to Kuldeep, they were advised by an aged Sikh man not to stay in Delhi as it was dangerous for children. So, they returned to the railway station in Delhi and again boarded a train for Ambala. From Ambala, they came to Chandigarh on another train.”

Inspector ZP Khan, the Station House Officer of Industrial Area PS, said, “Three of them were found eating langar at Sai Mandir in Sector 29 by a team of the operations cell. They were examined at GMSH-16 and handed over to their parents after being produced before a local magistrate. One of them, who had arguments with his mother over sleeping, is calm and begged for forgiveness from his mother. The government school, where they study, opened today after 40 days’ summer vacation.”

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