Bhubaneswar: Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel at Khurda Road station rescued four 14-year-old schoolgirls from West Bengal who had mysteriously reached Odisha, over 500 km from their homes.
According to reports, the teenagers, all Class 9 students, went missing from Thakurnagar under Gaighata police limits in North 24 Parganas district on December 5. Using real-time mobile tower data, West Bengal Police traced the girls’ phones to Khurda station late on Saturday and alerted their Odisha counterparts, who then located the four minors on the station premises.
The girls were handed over to a West Bengal Police team that reached Bhubaneswar early Sunday morning and brought back to Gaighata. They will be handed over to their families on Monday after due legal process, PTI reported quoting an officer.
The incident has raised fresh concerns about digital grooming and trafficking networks targeting adolescent girls from border areas of Bengal. Investigation is underway to ascertain how the girls reached Odisha and whether the minors were lured online or through acquaintances.
