Chandigarh, March 4 (IANS): Taking note of the large number of missing children in the Panipat district, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij said in the Assembly, here on Wednesday, he would request the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the matter.

"The SIT (special investigating team) was probing the case. Now I will write to the CBI to investigate the matter," he said.

Replying to a question of Parmod Kumar Vij (BJP), the Home Minister said it was also raised at the District Public Relations and Grievances Committee meeting, which he was chairing, in Panipat.

A day earlier, he had informed the House that 21.1 per cent of the children who went missing between 2014 and 2019 were yet to be traced. From 2014 to December 31, 2019, 11,973 children went missing, he added.

They included 5,458 boys and 6,515 girls. Of these, 9,441 children (or 78.9 per cent) -- 4,322 boys and 5,119 girls -- were recovered and reunited with their families.