Three missing schoolgirls rescued from Cox's Bazar

MUNSHIGANJ, Oct 18: Three schoolgirls who went missing from Sreenagar in Munshiganj have been rescued by district police from a hotel in Cox's Bazar. 

They were rescued from the Grand Taj Hotel and Resort in the Kalatoli area around 3:40am on Saturday night. They were later returned to their families.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Md Menhazul Alam, PPM, disclosed this information at a press conference held in the conference room of the SP office on Sunday.

Police said the three rescued schoolgirls are 14 years old. Two of them are eighth-grade students of Bhagyakul Hirendranath School and the other is a seventh-grade student of Darul Ulum Mohila Madrasa in Balasur.

The three schoolgirls left their homes at around 6:40am on 14 October to go to school as usual. They did not return home afterwards. Family members searched in various places but could not find them. Later, on 15 October, the mother of one of the missing students filed a general diary (GD) with Sreenagar Police Station.

On the instructions of SP Md Menhazul Alam, Sreenagar police began an investigation to rescue the students. At one stage of the investigation, Sub-Inspector (SI) Shafiqul Islam learned that one of the missing students had become acquainted with a 16-year-old boy from the Kotwali area of Rangamati through playing TikTok and the Free Fire game. Information was found that the students had left home following contact with the boy.

Later, a police team went to the Kotwali area of Rangamati and questioned the boy. Based on information obtained from him, police learned that the three students were staying in Cox's Bazar via Chattogram. Subsequently, conducting an operation, they were rescued from a hotel in the Kalatoli area of Cox's Bazar.

According to police, the three students took a room at the hotel for three days at Tk 20,000, identifying themselves as ninth-grade students and using a false address in Mirpur. A local auto-rickshaw driver in Cox's Bazar assisted them in renting the hotel room.

In a press release, it was mentioned that during questioning after the rescue, the students said they had become mentally distressed due to family unrest, discord between parents, strict discipline, regular humiliation and neglect. In addition, police believe addiction to social media and the influence of fantasising also played a role in their decision.