Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Mar 18: Because of the presence of mind and timely vigilance exercised by a lecturer who was travelling by Yeshwantpur-Mangalore night train on Wednesday March 16 night, two children were saved from the clutches of two persons, who were probably traffickers.

The lecturer in question, Marularadhya, a native of Channarayapatna in Hassan and working as English lecturer in Mudipu government PU college in Bantwal taluk, was coming to Bantwal by the said train for PU examination vigilance duty. During the journey, he observed that two small children were travelling by sitting by the side of toilets, and that two persons, who looked like ruffians, were trying to woo them by offering various lures. When Marularadhya questioned the two adults, they said they were the children’s neighbours. He then talked to the children, and verified the school diaries in their bags. He rung up a telephone number found in the diary, and realized that the children were from Bangalore, and that Rakesh was staying in the home of his parents’ relative in Bangalore for studying there. He also learnt that the families had filed police complaints about these missing children.

The children have been identified as Rakesh (13), and Pavan (13), seventh standard students of Eastwest Public School in Mahalakshmi lay Out, Bangalore. But for the timely intervention of Marularadhya, the parents of the children would have lost them for ever.

As soon as the train reached Sakleshpur station, Marularadhya contacted the railway police. The policemen took both the children into their custody. By then, the two strangers, who were accompanying the children, had gone missing. The railway policemen said that during their questioning, the children revealed that two strangers, who approached them after school hours, had promised them to drop them at their home in their car.