Discarded bags, no bodies baffle cops

Police unable to two teenagers even after 3-hour search near canal where school bags were recovered, suspect girls misleading family

Discarded bags, no bodies baffle cops

Police unable to find two teenagers even after 3-hour search near canal where school bags were recovered, suspect girls misleading family

Mystery looms:u00a0Girls went missing near a canal at Sasane Nagar, Hadapsar on Monday night. pic/jignesh mistry

Mystery shrouded the missing act of two high school students whose school bags were recovered from Sasanewadi canal bank in Hadapsar yesterday. Family members are left to grapple in the dark, as the police could not trace the girls even after 24 hours. Priyanka Kailas Ovhal (17) and Komal Suresh Pawar (18), residents of Samarth Nagar in MHADA colony, left the house to write their last HSC paper in the afternoon on Monday but never returned.

After initiating a search by parents, the girls' sacks were recovered near the canal, raising suspicion that the duo might have committed suicide. Or so it seems.

Misleading cops?
The police say the initial investigation suggests that the girls were not stressed. They are considering whether the girls deliberately left their sacks on the banks to delude the police and family. The Hadapsar Fire station officials were also summoned at Sasane Nagar canal to search for the bodies. But despite searching for
three hours, nothing was found.

Priyanka Ovhal (left) and Komal Pawar

Station Duty Officer Shivaji Chavan said, "We have searched but nothing was found as the water is deep."

"Even if the girls had drowned the body could have flown to the near by villages."

A happy duo
Priyanka's mother said, "I am confused. My daughter was good in academics and never expressed that she was under stress."

According to a common friend of the missing girls, they both seemed happy after their last paper was over.
u00a0
They even played Holi with other students outside the examination hall.u00a0 Senior Police Inspector Pandharinath Mandhare of Hadapsar police station, said: "I have spoken to their class teacher who said the girls were average in studies and showed no signs of anxiety. We are checking the cell phone call details to ascertain if someone is behind this missing case."

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