Inchara Udupi
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi

Udupi, Feb 18: In a suspected case of kidnapping, two minor girls have been reported missing since Tuesday February 17 at Pamboor under Shirva police station limits here.

The missing girls, Kannamma (15), daughter of Swamy, and Shailini (15), daughter of Krishnappa, are neighbours.

As per a complaint lodged in Shirva police station, the girls had been to have lunch at Heroor Mahalingeshwara Temple on Tuesday, and after returning home, went to Dharmashree colony, Pamboor at around 4 pm to sit near the community hall there and study.

The girls disappeared from there and it is suspected that they were lured and kidnapped.

Locals said that a youth named Raghavendra had grown friendly with the girls. Raghavendra, said to be an outsider, came to the neighbourhood for mason work at the house of one Nagaraj about one-and-a-half months ago. Since then he had developed friendship with the girls and was frequently seen talking to them, locals said.

Moreover, it is said that Raghavendra too has gone missing. When locals questioned Nagaraj about him, he said he would try to contact him and went inside his house. A while later, it was discovered that Nagaraj and his wife too had locked their house and left the town.

The girls were SSLC students of Shree Narayana Guru Kannada medium school at Padubelle.

Officials of women and child welfare committee visited the spot, so also the Shirva police.

Further investigations are on.