Bengaluru/Hubballi: A 13-year-old girl student from National Public School, Rajajinagar, who had gone missing since August 24, was traced in a train heading to Bengaluru from Mumbai at the Hubballi Railway Station on Sunday morning. The story of M.K. Pujitha, an eighth standard student, had gone viral on the social media sites after she remained untraceable after boarding her school bus on August 24.
“After rescuing her, the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the local police asked her name and other details and crosschecked with the information and photographs provided by the Bengaluru police and it matched,” said a senior police officer.
She told the police that on August 24, she had taken Rs 600 from her mother claiming that she was taking part in a cultural event at school and had also brought a pair of old clothes with her.
The moment she got down from the school bus, she went to the Yeshwanthapur railway station and boarded a train to Mysuru. She took another train to Ahmedabad the same night. After reaching Ahmedabad, she enquired with the local train ticket examiner (TTE) about details of trains to return to Bengaluru.
He advised her to go to Mumbai and take a direct train to Bengaluru. He realised that it was the same girl who had gone missing and whose story had gone viral on the social media only after she boarded the train.
He immediately informed her relatives in Hubballi, whose phone numbers were widely circulated in the networking sites. Her relatives acted swiftly and approached the Railway Protection Force in Hubballi.
The Hubballi RPF personnel swung into action and conducted a thorough search of all the compartments of all Bengaluru-bound trains coming from Mumbai. Finally, she was traced in the S1 compartment of Dadar-Tirunelveli train (No. 11021) on Sunday morning.
“The girl admitted that she was depressed after scoring 18 out of 30 in her test and wanted to run away from home. The girl said that she wants to become an IAS officer and that she is fond of traveling,” Hubballi Railway Protection Force inspector Akhilesh Tiwari told Deccan Chronicle. Her parents had filed missing complaint at the Srirampura police station.
