The Kerala police on Saturday, March 8, brought back two minor girls who went missing from Kerala’s Malappuram and shifted them to a care home managed by the Child Welfare Committee (CWC). They will be allowed to go with their parents after counselling, media reports said. The girls, students of Class 12, went missing on March 5. Police located them after nearly 35 hours of search in Lonavala, Maharashtra.
Akbar Rahim, the man who helped the girls and travelled with them to Maharashtra was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by the parents. Akbar, a native of Edavanna, had befriended the girls on Instagram. According to police he has been booked for kidnapping and other relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). According to reports, the students told the police they went to Maharashtra because they loved to travel.