Missing engineering student found in Kochi

The Shivaji Park police has traced a 22-year-old girl who went missing last week from her Dadar residence to Kochi in Kerala. The textile engineering student allegedly left home as she was feeling pressurised due to her approaching exams.

Manasi Puranik, a final year student at Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), went missing on April 16, two days before her final year exams. The dadar resident left her phone at her home and just took the SIM card, some clothes and an ATM card with her.

This ATM card was what helped the police track her down. “She withdrew Rs 1,500 with the ATM card she was using and we finally had a transaction reflected in her account. We intimated the bank and found details of the exact ATM kiosk used by her and found that it was a residential area of Kochi,” said PI Anil Jadhav, Shivaji Park police station who is investigating the case.

The officers then intimated their team posted in Kochi and with the help of the Kerala police they started scanning through footage of CCTV camera in the ATM and also that in the area.

The team tracked down a person in the CCTV footage Manasi was seen speaking to and asked him about her whereabouts. But he did not know her address. “But he gave us a clue she might have been in a youth hostel...From there, began the search in all the youth hostels and we finally tracked her down to a working women’s hostel and then intimated our senior and they informed the parents,” said Mr Jadhav.

Manasi was brought back to Mumbai on Friday morning.