Six runaway girls found in Thane

Six girls, aged between 12 and 17, who went missing from Vakola on Thursday, were found in Thane on Saturday.

Police officials, who suspected that the girls may have gone on an excursion, had formed various teams to trace the teenagers.    

What complicated matters was a handwritten note which sources claimed had been left behind by one of the runaways.

She wrote that the primary motive of the girls fleeing was their collective desire to make big careers, and more importantly, make it on their own. They had also requested their parents not to search for them and had promised to return once they had found professional success.

“We all are worried, especially after their phones have been switched off,” said Anil Patekar, the parent of one girl, before they were traced.

Those involved with the investigation were also of the view that the girls had planned their disappearance well. They went missing after they left their respective homes for going to school and tuitions in a nearby locality. However, the tuition and school teachers had told the police that the girls did not attend classes on Thursday.

Investigators had not dismissed the possibility of the girls being misguided by someone or them having gone to a picnic spot just for some revelry. Sources have revealed that one of the girls left home with Rs 2,500.

The oldest girl was a 17-year-old class XII student dropout, while two of them are reportedly sisters.

A relative of one of the girls had said before they were found: “We never forced her into doing a particular thing. What does she know of careers?”