Kidnapping rumour turns out naughty prank
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, August 28 2023:
Scared of being scolded for skipping school, three girls cooked up a kidnapping story that shook the people and put police on high alert today.
Amid the present unrest, the story they cooked up about two men in an Eeco van kidnapping 20 students at Imphal West's Kangmong spread like wildfire and put the entire police and the people on the edge.
While a sea of people stormed Kangmong, social media burst with people calling for immediate police response to nab the kidnappers.
Kangmong in Imphal West falls under Nambol police station.
Nambol police reacted to the breaking news and dispatched a team that brought the three girls to the police station, where the truth came out.
Briefing media persons at Nambol police station, Bishnupur district Superintendent of Police, Konjeng- bam Meghachandra said no children have been kidnapped and rumours that have spread were all false.
The story was cooked up by one of the three children who claimed to have escaped from kidnappers, said the SP.
The three children are students of a high school at Kabowakching and they hail from a nearby village.
Two of them, Class VIII students, are twin sisters and the other one is their relative, studying in Class VI.
The rumour:
The SP said, the girls first claimed to their teachers and the police that they were called by two strangers who came in a blue coloured Eeco van to go on an excursion.
They claimed the two strangers called two of them by their names.
As they were told to change their uniforms first, they changed their clothes at a relative's house and board-ed the Eeco van at around 8.50 am at Kabowakching Mamang Leikai.
They claimed that there were already 17 students inside the Eeco van.
The vehicle then drove into a street at Kangmong Meisnam Maning Leikai, but they came across a bridge over a river.
As the vehicle couldn't fit on the bridge, the vehicle turned around.
As they grew suspicious, they took the chance when the vehicle was slowing down and jumped off it.
They escaped and ran to the house of a relative at Kangmong Longoljam Maning Leikai.
They further claimed that the two men didn't speak Meiteilon much.
As the news spread like wildfire and reached the police, the district police immediately dispatched a team to Kangmong.
The police then picked up the girls from a house at Kangmong and brought them to Nambol police station.
After giving counselling, they were questioned by female cops.
Initially, all of them narrated the same story, but the cops noticed some inconsistencies in the stories.
On questioning further, they revealed that one of them had cooked up the story and all of them have been narrating the same.
It seems that they were planning to skip school today.
They had their casual dresses inside their school bags, said the SP.
They cooked up the story to avoid scolding by parents, said the SP.
Earlier, as their story went wild, a sea of people from several places stormed Kangmong Longoljam Maning Leikai and a Central security force's post at nearby Tera Urak.
When the people stormed the post and enquired about possible sighting of the kidnappers' Eeco van, the security personnel had denied that they saw any such vehicle in the area.
However, after learning that the girls had cooked up the story, the people gradually dispersed.
Nonetheless, a large number of women remained in front of Nambol police station when the police were questioning the girls.
The SP appealed to people not to believe in rumours and act rashly before confirming the veracity with authorities concerned.
Meanwhile, the Senior Citizens Club has also appealed to people not to believe in rumours and spread rumours before verifying them.
Such rumours have the potential to add more fuel to the already tense atmosphere, it said.
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