SUKKUR: Three police teams, each led by a DSP, and another one led by the officer in charge of the ‘Madadgar 15’ helpline on Thursday sprung into action to mount an extensive search for a schoolgirl who had apparently gone missing on Tuesday and could not be located till Thursday afternoon.

Jacobabad SSP Bashir Ahmed Brohi came under immense pressure from Provincial Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla, Jacobabad Chamber of Commerce president Mir Ahmed Ali Brohi, Hindu General Panchayat president Lal Chand Seetlani and several other influential figures of the district for the early and safe recovery of the girl amid rumours that she might have contracted a free-will marriage with her family’s domestic servant. A delegation of the Hindu community leaders also met the SSP and asked him to redouble his efforts for her recovery.

The girl’s family believes that the servant, Ali Raza Solangi, may have kidnapped their daughter as he has also been missing since the girl’s disappearance.

The three police teams led by DSPs of Saddar, City and CID police and a fourth one headed by the officer in charge of ‘Madadgar 15’ started conducting raids at all suspected places including Soomra Mohalla, where Solangi lives, and some areas bordering Balochistan to hunt down the suspect and locate the girl. At one such place, Jhat Pat, falling within the Dera Allahyar district, the police were told that the man and the girl had been there and left on Thursday morning.

Solangi’s paternal uncle and two woman relatives have also been detained in order to get a clue to the suspect.

The missing girl is a class-IX student and had left for her school on Tuesday morning but did not reach there, according to her family members.

Solangi has divorced his first wife and lives in Soomra Mohallah with his second wife.

Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2020