Berhampur: As many as 13 girl inmates fled a specialised adoption agency in Ganjam district reportedly over security concerns. According to reports, 13 girl inmates of adoption agency, Utkal Balashram situated at Gosani Nuagaon fled the hostel on Monday night.
While speaking to the mediapersons, director of Utkal Balashram, Sasmitarani Padhi said, “The hostel warden had seen them last at around 1 AM. However, they were found missing in the morning following which I informed the local police, Childline members and other concerned officials.”
Sasmitarani further said that the girls might have fled through the broken wall behind the hostel.
While the exact reason behind the incident is yet to be confirmed, the district administration has reportedly traced some of the students in Bhubaneswar. Gosani Nuagaon Police along with Child Helpline members has started an investigation after getting information about the incident.
“Our first priority is to rescue and bring back the students. A detailed inquiry will be conducted when the girls return to the hostel and action will be taken against those who are found guilty,” informed Berhampur Sub-collector, Shinde Dattatraya Bhausaheb.
“Some of the students have been traced and efforts are on to find out other students,” Bhausaheb added.
Later in the day, Bhausaheb informed that 7 out of 13 minor girls who fled from the hostel were rescued from Jagannathprasad, Chikiti & Bhubaneswar.
Moreover, the district collector also suspended the security guard, housemother and watchman of the centre in connection with the incident.
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