MUMBAI: A total of five boys, aged 13 to 17, have gone missing from an orphanage in Chembur between December 17 and 20. Chembur police on Friday registered five FIRs of kidnapping after officials of the centre filed complaints on failing to locate the boys till December 22. Two of the boys, aged 15 and 17, went missing within barely a week of being admitted to the centre.
Mangesh Rane (57), probation officer at the centre, declined to divulge details when TOI contacted him on Friday. Rane said it is a confidential matter and details cannot be shared.
One boy, aged 14, went missing on December 20. One aged 15 and two 17-year-olds went missing on December 18, and a day prior, on December 17, a 13-year-old was not found.
“According to the welfare trust, the boys are free to go out. It was during this time that they went missing. The police team is scanning the closed-circuit television (CCTV) network at the centre and the nearby locality to track the boys,” said Chembur police senior inspector Jaykumar Suryawanshi.
The centre is run under the state’s District Mahila Bal Vibhag and shelters orphans aged between 12 and 18. The centre takes care of their studies and accommodation.
In the December 20 kidnapping case, the 14-year-old boy had been handed over to the centre following instructions to Kurla railway police from the Bal Kalyan Samiti on December 7. In the second case, the 17-year-old boy who went missing on December 18 had been at the centre since June 30. The 13-year-old boy who went missing on December 17 had been at the centre since September 10.
Police said the 17-year-old and the 15-year-old were brought in only on December 13 and went missing five days later.
In all the five FIRs, unknown persons have been booked under the Indian Penal Code Section 363 for kidnapping.
Mangesh Rane (57), probation officer at the centre, declined to divulge details when TOI contacted him on Friday. Rane said it is a confidential matter and details cannot be shared.
One boy, aged 14, went missing on December 20. One aged 15 and two 17-year-olds went missing on December 18, and a day prior, on December 17, a 13-year-old was not found.
“According to the welfare trust, the boys are free to go out. It was during this time that they went missing. The police team is scanning the closed-circuit television (CCTV) network at the centre and the nearby locality to track the boys,” said Chembur police senior inspector Jaykumar Suryawanshi.
The centre is run under the state’s District Mahila Bal Vibhag and shelters orphans aged between 12 and 18. The centre takes care of their studies and accommodation.
In the December 20 kidnapping case, the 14-year-old boy had been handed over to the centre following instructions to Kurla railway police from the Bal Kalyan Samiti on December 7. In the second case, the 17-year-old boy who went missing on December 18 had been at the centre since June 30. The 13-year-old boy who went missing on December 17 had been at the centre since September 10.
Police said the 17-year-old and the 15-year-old were brought in only on December 13 and went missing five days later.
In all the five FIRs, unknown persons have been booked under the Indian Penal Code Section 363 for kidnapping.
