Three more minors disappear as Ludhiana cops downplay gang fears.

Ludhiana: This industrial city of Punjab searches for three new missing children amid a spike in youth disappearances that has triggered 14 separate police inquiries in just over a week.From a young boy who promised to return in five minutes to vulnerable teenage girls lured away, a community is left picking up the pieces as police struggle to challenge public theories about “a gang of child lifters”.The latest cases involve a 13-year-old boy and two girls, aged 13 and 16. Local authorities have filed kidnapping and child procurement charges against two men suspected of luring the underage girls away under the pretense of marriage.Despite growing community anxiety over the statistics — which show 15 girls and one boy reported missing between late May and early June — Ludhiana’s police commissioner, Swapan Sharma, downplayed fears of a criminal syndicate.“Preliminary inquiries indicate that these girls left their homes voluntarily due to various personal or family reasons,” Sharma said. “At present, there is no evidence suggesting any organised kidnapping racket or criminal conspiracy.”The 16-Year-Old Girl: The teenager vanished from her home on June 3. Her father, a local laborer, later discovered that a neighboring resident had also disappeared. Investigating Officer Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Makhan Singh said the suspect and his brother-in-law have been booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for kidnapping and child procurement. The missing pair recently posted a video online showing themselves traveling by train toward Uttar Pradesh.The 13-Year-Old Girl: A factory worker has been charged with kidnapping after a 13-year-old girl failed to return from a local shop on May 31. The girl’s father stated he had previously moved his family to a new neighborhood to separate his daughter from the suspect, unaware the two had remained in contact.The 13-Year-Old Boy: In a separate incident in Majra village, a seventh-grade boy disappeared on June 24 after telling his sister he would return in five minutes. His father fears the boy is being held against his will, noting his son was excited about an upcoming family wedding in Uttar Pradesh. Police have registered a case of wrongful confinement against unidentified suspects.A Rising TrendThe disappearances are part of a broader, troubling pattern in the industrial hub. From May 28 to June 4, Ludhiana police registered multiple first-information reports (FIRs) regarding 13 missing girls, 11 of whom are minors.The city has reported 16 children missing in the current wave. Authorities confirm that four of the girls have since been recovered safely, and investigations into the remaining cases are in progress.