Nagpur: Three minor girls, aged approximately 14, 16, and 17, who were facing serious charges including murder and robbery, escaped from the Government Shelter Home at Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh. They managed to travel approximately 250 km on a stolen scooter to Nagpur, before being intercepted by two alert women cops at Wardhaman Nagar Chowk in Nagpur on Saturday. The girls had escaped from the shelter home on Friday evening.
One of the girls, aged 14, had murdered her elder brother for not allowing her to use a cell phone. Another girl, aged 16, had murdered one of her three paramours with the help of the current boyfriend. The third girl, aged 17, had committed robbery with her boyfriend.
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On Saturday during the routine check, the women cops signalled the girls to stop as they were riding on a moped and the one driving was not wearing a helmet. For cops, what was a routine detention turned out to be quite a long and scary story. When asked to produce the registration documents of the two wheeler, a Honda Activa, the girls faltered and it only heightened suspicion of the cops. The cops alerted their superiors and the three girls were handed over to Lakadganj Police, where women officers grilled them and as details were spilled, even the cops were stunned for a while.
According to police officials, two of the girls face murder charges and fled after locking the warden inside the correctional facility. The third one had struck friendship with the two and she also hopped on with them sensing opportunity. Police personnel Vaishali Durugkar and Puja Puri were on duty at Wardhaman Nagar Square under Lakadganj Division on Saturday. They noticed three girls riding an Activa moped without a helmet.
When stopped in Nagpur, the trio tried to bribe the traffic cops to get away. However, Head Constable Vaishali Durugkar and Constable Puja Puri detained them and took them to the traffic police office at Lakadganj for inquiry.
Puri and Durugkar said they became suspicious as the scooter was without a number plate and the girls appeared minors. “The girls said the scooter belonged to them but could not recall its registration number. They were also not able to connect us to their family members, and tried to mislead us by saying they had fled from home after a tiff with their parents,” said Puri.
She added the girls first offered them Rs 200 as bribe and then increased the amount to Rs 5,000. “Their language and accent were also different, which made us suspicious,” said the woman cop, who was earlier honoured by former Commissioner of Police B K Upadhyay for managing heavy traffic single-handedly in rush hour.
Puri and Durugkar said the girls were also changing their versions. “When we checked their scooter and bags, we could see clothes, which meant they were on the run,” said the cops, who took the girls to the traffic office at Lakadganj and handed them over to senior inspector Santosh Vairagade.
Puri said the girls were interrogated separately and soon spilled the beans. “One of them had kept a cell phone hidden in the clothes, which we recovered,” she said.
Senior PI traffic Vairagade said the girls later admitted fleeing the shelter home in the jurisdiction of Basant Nagar police station of Rajnandgaon. “The Chhattisgarh cops were after these girls, but were unable to locate them as the cell phones were switched off. We alerted them, and their team reached Nagpur to take the girls back after completing the formalities,” said Vairagade.
Addicted to alcohol, the three had left Rajnandgaon and stopped at a roadside dhaba to enjoy liquor and food with some of the stolen cash and taking some rest. They then resumed their journey via Deori in Gondia and crossed Bhandara to reach Nagpur.
They hoped to reach Nagpur about which they knew very sketchy details. Little did they realise that their flight of fancy would crash land and put them back from where they had escaped. Fortunately for the girls, they did not fall into the wrong company or their lives might have been ruined for their lifetime.
Even the cops, post interrogation, were quite surprised at the audacity of the girls. Also that three travelled the 214 km distance on two-wheeler on the busy national highway showed the dare devilry on part of minors. Upon being informed, Chhattisgarh Police arrived in the City and took the girls into their custody. Police Inspector of Basantpur Police Station commended the woman police personnel with an immediate cash reward for their vigilance.
