Three elderly women from Odisha, who were on a pilgrimage to Tirupati of Andhra Pradesh, reportedly went missing.
The missing women have been identified as Basanti Malla from Bharatpur in Kendrapara, Gitanjali Rout from Nankera village under Khordha’s Jayadev panchayat and Rani Dei from Khordha’s Chilika block.
As per reports, the Odisha Tourism Department had taken senior citizens from several districts of Odisha on a pilgrimage to Tirupati on February 7. However, the women reportedly went missing after availing darshan of Lord Venkateswara.
The local police and Odisha Tourism officials have been searching for them at Tirupati but could not get any breakthrough.
Other pilgrims have returned from Tirupati to Odisha. They will arrive at Cuttack today.
Basanti Malla’s family has left Kendrapara for Tirupati today to search for her.
Speaking about the incident, Kendrapara Tourism Officer Himalay Tripathi said, “She had gone to Tirupati under the Senior Citizen Pilgrimage Scheme of the State government. She was not alone. Around 12 more people from her village have also gone on the pilgrimage with her.”
“She went missing during the darshan at Venkateshwara temple in Tirupati. We are continuing the search operation. Two out of six escort officers have stayed at Tirupati to find them. Two IRCTC officials are also there to assist them in the search,” Tripathi said.