Five held for detaining 29 girl students in Gajapati

Gajapati: Police have arrested five persons for allegedly detaining 29 girl students of a government residential school at Antaraba under Mohana area of Gajapati district. All of them went missing from the hostel on January 26.

Adaba Police said that after leaving the hostel, the girl students were detained by the accused inside a hut. Police rescued the girls on January 27 by tracking the mobile phone of one of the students.

"All the accused who had detained the girls have been arrested and will be forwarded to court," Sub-inspector of Adaba Police Station, Mukesh Lakra said.

After the girls had gone missing, the school authorities and Kandhamal District Welfare Officer (DWO) had launched a search operation to trace them. Kandhamal DWO Santosh Rath informed that the students had left a handwritten letter mentioning that the teachers of the school were not coordinating with them regarding some issues following which they were compelled to leave the hostel.