Missing From Kota, 15-Year-Old NEET Aspirant Traced In Chennai: Police

A 15-year-old NEET aspirant missing from coaching hub Kota for several days, was traced in Chennai, police said on Monday.

The girl was produced before a Child Welfare Committee in Kota, given counselling and then sent to a shelter home here, they said.

Police did not disclose the circumstances under which she ended up in Chennai.

The girl travelled from Kota to Chennai, stopping in Surat and Mumbai in between, police said.

Kota city Superintendent of Police Amrita Duhan said the girl, who was preparing for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) in a coaching institute in the city, left for classes on the morning of June 10 but did not return to her hostel later.

Based on a report by the caretaker of the hostel, police lodged a missing person's report under Section 363 of IPC and a team of Mahaveer Nagar police station and the Anti-Human trafficking Cell began an operation to find the medical aspirant, the SP said.

Initial inputs and CCTV footage revealed that the girl was found to have boarded Sampark Kranti Express from Kota junction for Surat in Gujarat, as per a statement issued on Monday.

A police team, accompanied by her parents, reached Surat to find that she had left for Mumbai. When another police team reached Mumbai, technical evidence suggested she had left by train for Chennai on the night of June 11.

Later, a special team was rushed to Chennai which traced the girl at Periamet town in Chennai on June 14, the officer said.

She was then brought to Kota, the SP added.

Duhan said she was given rounds of counselling and was produced before a Child Welfare Committee (CWC) that directed that the minor be sent to a girls' shelter home. Further legal procedure is underway, she added. 

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