For more than seven months, there was little trace of the 18-year-old student who had disappeared from Bengaluru after telling her family she was heading to college.
The breakthrough came through an unlikely digital trail, an Aadhaar-linked OTP.
The second-year PUC student, who went missing from Vidyaranyapura on January 31, was traced earlier this week to a village in Kanakapura taluk, where she was found living with a man she had married, police said.
According to police, the girl had left home with a minor friend. Neither carried their mobile phones or other belongings, except their Aadhaar cards and college bags. The two travelled to Male Mahadeshwara Hills before eventually going their separate ways.
The CID took over the investigation in April following a Karnataka High Court order on a habeas corpus petition filed by the girl’s parents. Multiple teams had been working to trace the two girls.
Earlier this week, investigators found that the 18-year-old had recently used her Aadhaar details and entered a mobile number linked to her husband to receive an OTP. Police were unable to immediately establish what service the Aadhaar details had been used for.
The mobile number led investigators to her husband. After questioning him, police located the girl.
She was subsequently produced before the High Court and handed over to her parents, police said.
(With inputs from PTI)