Subadh Kumar Nayak

Baripada: Three students of Swami Vivekananda Shikshashram (S.V.S) at Sirisbani on the outskirts of Baripada town have been missing since August 16.

Sources said, the three class 9 students, Subhankar Mishra of Balasore district, Abhinash Mahakud of Rourkela and Hemant Kumar Sahu of Bahalda in Mayurbhanj district went missing from the Hostel No-9 of the residential school.

Even as the exact circumstances under which the trio went missing is still unknown, the incident has triggered panic among the students and their parents. They have raised questions as to how the three students went missing from the hostel despite tight security arrangements along with installation of adequate CCTV cameras on the premises of the school.

Secretary of S.V.S, Ajay Kumar Mishra informed CCTV footages have shown that the students left the school late night on August 15, but the school authorities came to know about the matter during the assembly on August 16.

"We informed their parents about the matter, however, after failing to trace them out despite sincere search at all possible locations, we informed the police and lodged an FIR over the incident, said Mishra.

“We are also questioning our staff to find out whether there was any lacuna on our part. Action will be taken against those found guilty,” he added.

Meanwhile, police have launched an investigation into the matter and interrogated school authorities, parents and friends of the missing students.

“We have formed three teams to search the students. As part of our probe, we will inspect the call records of their relatives. We will look into all the angles and are hopeful of getting some lead in a day or two,” informed Baripada SDPO Krushnaprasad Patnaik.

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