Missing Gurukul student found after three-day bus odyssey across Telangana

A 16-year-old Intermediate first-year student, who went missing from a Telangana Gurukul college in Mancherial district, was traced after an extensive three-day search during which she had travelled across several districts using the State government’s free bus service for women.

The student, who was studying at the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya at Kotapalli mandal headquarters, left the hostel on July 5 without informing anyone, prompting her parents to lodge a missing person complaint.

Police formed four special teams and launched a multi-district search, analysing CCTV footage and examining the student’s Instagram account to track her movement.

Investigators found that she first hitchhiked a ride on a two-wheeler from Kotapalli to Chennur before boarding Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TGRTC) buses using her Aadhaar card to avail herself of the free travel scheme.

“Over the next three days, she travelled from Chennur to Mancherial, then to Adilabad, back to Mancherial, onwards to Karimnagar and finally boarded a bus bound for Hyderabad,” said an officer from the Chennur police.

One of the police teams traced and intercepted her at the Karimnagar bus station on the afternoon of July 8 before she could continue her journey to Hyderabad. “Preliminary enquiry revealed that she used her pocket money for food and ate chips, snacks etc. We have CCTV footage of all this. She used overnight buses to sleep during the nights,” explained the officer.

During counselling, the student told police that she did not want to stay in the hostel. She also reportedly said her mother had refused to take her home during weekends, which contributed to her decision to leave.

The student was safely reunited with her parents after counselling. Police said further inquiry is underway.