The Hassan police, investigating the missing cases reported since 2011, have succeeded in tracing 27 children and 33 women. They are all in safe places.
Hassan SP Hariram Shankar constituted a special team headed by Manjunath, probationary Dy.SP, to probe 169 missing cases reported since 2011. As of now, the team has succeeded in cracking 51 of them. As many as 50 people, including 27 children, have been traced. One girl, who went missing for about 10 years, is said to have been murdered.
Hariram Shankar told The Hindu that the probe was conducted to check if those who went missing were in a safe place or if they had become victims of human trafficking or murdered. “The team was assigned this job for one month. They were given a vehicle to travel in. They did travel across the State and outside to trace the missing people. Within a month, the team succeeded in cracking 51 cases. It is a commendable job. Additional SP Thammaiah and I reviewed the progress once in two days,” he said.
In many cases, as the investigation revealed, the girls had gone voluntarily to avoid getting married as per the wishes of their parents. “Our team traced them, interacted with them, recorded their statements, and returned. Most of them said they were happy wherever they are. Many of them have families. Children who went missing are engaged in different jobs. The intention of the investigation was to confirm they are safe. In a couple of cases, the missing persons had come back to their parents a few years ago and left them again,” he said.
In one case, the SP said, the missing girl was suspected to have been murdered. In another case, the police team succeeded in tracing a lady who had gone missing in 2004. “The person went missing in 2004. However, nobody bothered to report it to the police. Her family members filed the missing case only in 2022, as they required her presence to settle a property dispute. The lady was found on a plantation in Kodagu”, he said.
Mr. Shankar said the police would continue to work on the remaining cases. The team had collected data on unnatural death reports registered in other districts and compared the details with the data on missing persons. The SP also announced a cash prize of ₹20,000 for the special team. The team included PSIs Latha, Santhosh, and 19 other staff members.
