The Tirupati Urban Police traced the four girl students who fled the Sampradaya Patashala in Chandragiri to Mumbai and reunited them with their families on Friday.
Ravi Vidyalakshmi Varshini (18) from Visakhapatnam, Vella Pranathi (18) from Kadapa, Jayanthi Sravanti (18) from Vijayawada and Akkineni Srivalli (19) from Vizianagaram, all students of the traditional school being run by the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, ran away from their hostel on May 8. They went to Kolhapur and then to Mumbai.
Acting on a complaint lodged by the institute, the police formed special teams to search for the girls.
Having run out of money, the girls were taking shelter in a park, when a person Mopidevi Srinivas, who hails from Vijayawada and works in the merchant navy, offered them help, the police said.
The girls asked for jobs, but Mr. Srinivas explained them about the risk associated with staying alone in an alien city. He alerted the Tirupati police. A special team reached Kolhapur by then in search of the girls. The team took custody of the girls near Pune and safely brought them back to Tirupati.
“The girls were reprimanded by the hostel authorities for using cellphones. They were also denied hall tickets for the degree examinations. Fearing punishment from their parents, the students decided to run away,” Superintendent of Police P. Parameswara Reddy told the media on Friday.
The SP thanked Mr. Mopidevi Srinivas and others for helping the police. He advised the students to discuss their problems with the people concerned, instead of running away.
