Udupi, Nov 19: The mysterious disappearance of a Class VIII student from Sharada Residential School at Kunjibettu in Udupi, has caused her NRI parents great distress.
Shekhar Shetty and Yashoda Shetty, who live in Muscat, the capital of Sultanate of Oman rushed to Udupi and took the school authorities to task for their alleged negligence towards 13-year-old Eshika Shetty, who went missing on November 15 under mysterious circumstances from the hostel.
Along with helpless parents and relatives dozens of activists and local residents also staged a protest at the school on Wednesday for lack of safety measures. “If the school management acted with responsibility she wouldn't have gone missing,” said Eshika's parents.
Calling Eshika a brave and courageous girl, he said that she had even helped in catching a thief in the hostel premises a couple of years ago.
Vidyavanta Acharya, the principal of the school, lamented that the girl was found missing after she went to the hostel room alone from playground during a basketball match on November 15.
He said: “Around 600 students had gathered to watch the game in the evening. Eshika, who was also present among spectators complained of headache and walked towards her hostel room. When passing through teachers' passage, one of the staff inquired her where she was going. She replied that she was going to take rest in the room.”
“After the match, at around 8:15 p.m. all the students collected their respective cell phones to contact their parents as per rules. When the staff went to Eshika's room to give her cell phone, they realized that she was missing,” said the principal.
The principal said that a search was immediately launched in the surroundings. As the staff could not find her a missing complaint was filed at jurisdictional police station at around 10:45 p.m.
The police have taken some of her belongings including a dairy from her room as part of investigation, he said.
Police sources said that the contents found in the girl's diary hint that she had keen interest in music, dance and acting and she wanted to become an actress.
Meanwhile, the parents of the girl also have lodged a complaint with Mulky police station and accused the school management of being irresponsible.
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