Bengaluru: A chilling tale of a daylight kidnapping quickly snowballed into police action and frantic searches, only to end with an unexpected twist: Two schoolgirls had staged the entire drama to skip classes and enjoy a carefree morning in the neighbourhood!At the centre of the episode were two sisters, aged 14 and 8, students of a private school in Chamarajpet. They were dropped off near their school around 8.20am Monday. Minutes later, they disappeared by leaving behind their school bags on the campus, triggering alarm bells.The girls’ grandfather, who happened to pass by the school around 8.45am, went in to check on them, only to find they were missing from their classrooms. Teachers confirmed that neither child had attended classes. Panic set in immediately. Family members searched the school premises and nearby lanes, but the girls were nowhere to be found.With anxiety mounting, the family rushed to Chamarajpet police to file a complaint. Even as the paperwork was being prepared, the girls’ father received a call from an unknown number. His elder daughter was on the line. Calm but cryptic, she said both sisters were near home and that she was calling from a passer-by’s phone.Relieved yet shaken, the family hurried back and found the girls safe and unhurt. What followed, however, plunged everyone back into shock. Asked why they skipped school, the elder sister spun a cinematic story: a four-member gang, a waiting car, a forcible abduction, threats, injections that knocked them unconscious, and two women accomplices. She even claimed they were handed Rs 60 and warned to cooperate when the men returned the following week.The sensational account prompted police to register serious charges by invoking BNS Sections 123 (causing hurt by means of poison with intent to commit an offence), 137 (kidnapping), and 140 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder or for ransom). CCTV footage from the school and nearby areas was scrutinised. But there were no signs of a car, no strangers, and no forced entry—only gaps in the girls’ tale.When investigators expanded their CCTV sweep to surrounding streets, the mystery unravelled. The footage showed the sisters strolling around nearby roads— unhurt and unhurried. Confronted again, the girls broke down and confessed. There was no kidnapping, no injections, and no gang. They had simply decided not to attend classes that day. Instead, they wandered around the neighbourhood, treated themselves to glasses of lassi at a local shop, and later returned home with a story that sent an entire family and the police into a tizzy.
