SIT to trace girls missing from Gopalganj home

PATNA: Goplaganj SP Rashid Zaman on Monday constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to trace the two minor girls, who have been missing from the Alpawas Grih on Yadopur Road at Rajbahi in the town since October 2017. Additional SP Neeraj Kumar will head the five-member SIT.
The short stay home under the Women’s Development Corporation, Bihar, is being run by an NGO named Institute of Khadi, Agriculture and Rural Development (IKARD).
Zaman said the police started investigating the case after shelter home rehabilitation officer Suniti Kumarian lodged an FIR in this regard on Tuesday last. “We are trying to trace the missing girls,” he said.
Meanwhile, State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR) members Vijay Kumar Roshan and Prema Shah reached Gopalganj shelter home on Monday and made inquiries regarding the two girls’ disappearance from there.
“Suniti had informed the Town police station and women police station about the two missing girls in October last year, but did not lodge any formal complaint,” Vijay told this newspaper over the phone on Monday.
“One girl was from Maharashtra while the other belonged to Uttar Pradesh. The shelter home authorities neither lodged any police complaint nor tried to trace the missing girls. When we talked to Suniti, she didn’t cooperate and refused to share the details. She only said the girls had escaped through the window,” said Vijay.
Prema said the building where the shelter home is being run belongs to one Amit Kumar and he had earlier asked the rehabilitation officer to vacate it after he suspected something foul. “We also talked to a few people in the neighbourhood and they told that people often visited the shelter home during night,” Prema said, adding they would submit a report to SCPCR chairperson Harpal Kaur.