Two HSC Pune girl students missing, feared drowned

Two teenage girls have gone missing from Hadapsar since Monday evening, with the police apprehending that they could have drowned in the Mutha right bank canal flowing through the area.

The girls — Komal Suresh Pawar (17) and Priyanka Kailash Ovhal (17) of Mhada Colony — appeared for their Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSC) examination on the fateful day.

Senior police inspector of Hadapsar police station, Pandharinath Mandhare said, “Both the girls were studying in the same class and were friends. We have registered a missing persons’ complaint.”

Their school bags were recovered from a spot located off Sasanenagar Road on the bank of the canal. The spot has a few steps going into the canal, where women from the neighbourhood wash clothes and utensils.

Local residents said the canal is flowing bank to bank for the past two days. It is feared that the girls drowned in the waters.

The city fire brigade officials conducted a search operation on Monday evening as well as on Tuesday morning, but in vain.
The girls wrote their board examination at the Akkutai Vidyalaya centre in Hadapsar.

Mandhare said before appearing for the examination, they played Holi. Their examination got over at 5.30 pm. But instead of returning home, they went to the canal.