‘No trace of 2 girls missing from MTWT’

Police were still trying to trace two minor girls who went missing while shifting 40 inmates of Mother Teresa Welfare Trust (MTWT) shelter home to Patamda in Jamshedpur on Friday last, officials said on Sunday.

“We intensified search for the two missing girls who went missing late Friday evening at the time of shifting children from MTWT home under Telco police station. Both the girls have also not reached their homes in Birsanagar and Ghatshila as of yet. They don’t have mobile phones with them, but we have intensified our search. Teams have also been formed to arrest the five named accused, including MTWT director Harpal Singh Thapar and his child welfare committee (CWC) chief wife Pushpa Rani Tirkey,” Dr M Tamil Vanan, Jamshedpur senior superintendent of police (SSP), said.

As per available information, the two girls escaped when the district administration and police were shifting the inmates to Bal Kalyan Ashram in Patamda on Friday evening.

According to accused CWC chief Pushpa Rani Tirkey’s last press statement on Monday last week, the shelter home has 43 children, 23 girls and 20 boys, all of whom are under the age of 18.

However, earlier on June 5, two girls were reported missing from the shelter home. They were later rescued by the police from Birsanagar on June 6 night, and a case was subsequently registered based on their allegations of sexual assault and torture at the home for the past four years.

On June 7, a first information report (FIR) was lodged under Pocso (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and sections of the Indian Penal Code against Thapar and Tirkey, besides warden Geeta Singh, her son Aditya Singh, and another staff member Tony Singh. All the five accused are absconding. Police said mobile phones of the Thapar couple were switched off after their location was once tracked far away from Jamshedpur on Thursday last.

Police also found names of accused Aditya Singh, and one Gurleen Kaur, another child of warden Geeta Singh, in the list of inmates at the shelter home. Both Aditya and Gurleen are adults, while the shelter home was meant for minors, officials said.

Meanwhile, BJP district spokesperson Ankit Anand requested East Singhbhum DC Suraj Kumar to direct the 11-member probe committee to investigate the bank accounts of Thapar and his wife, along with MTWT’s accounts. MTWT has no links with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.