VELLORE: A 10-year-old girl from Odisha, who went missing on May 22 in Vellore, was reunited with her father on Friday. The police said that Ishu (name changed) had boarded a train to Odisha on May 22 in search of her father. She was subsequently located from a children’s home under the CWC in Bhadrak, Odisha, on May 31.
According to police reports, Ishu’s parents had been living separately for the last four years. Ishu was staying with her mother Shantha (26), who was leading a nomadic lifestyle along with her four-year-old son. Meanwhile, her father, Jughal, had remarried and lived in Titilagarh in Odisha. For the past three months, Ishu insisted to meet her father.
However, on May 22, while Shantha was away, Ishu went missing. After a day of search, Shantha filed a complaint at the Viruthampet police station in Vellore. Security footage from Katpadi railway stationshowed the girl boarding a train to Dibrugarh.
Ten police officers, split in three teams, searched across railway stations and the parents’ native villages. They also reached out to a former Rayagada SP, who shared the girl’s information in a IPS WhatsApp group. On May 30, the police were informed about the girl’s rescue by Cuttack RPF a week earlier. She was kept at a children’s home in Bhadrak. Ishu was handed over to her mother the next day.
During court sessions, the girl expressed her wish to stay with her father. After an agreement from Ishu’s parents, the victim was reunited with her father on May 31.