Mystery shrouds the disappearance of a 16-year-old national hockey player from UP’s Pilibhit district who went missing on January 8 from a train while returning from Jharkhand’s capital city Ranchi where she had gone to participate in a national tournament.
Karishma Sonkar’s last location, as per her mobile phone signal, was traced to Barabanki, Circle Officer, Bareilly (GRP), Indu Prabha Singh said.
The matter came to light after her elder brother Saurabh filed a missing complaint with the GRP in Bareilly on Sunday. The complaint was lodged four days after the girl, a Class X student of Rani Avanti Bai Kanya Inter College, went missing. On delay in filing complaint, Saurabh told The Indian Express that his family had been searching Karishma since January 8. “We did as we were told by family friends,” he added.
Station Officer, Bareilly GRP, Chandra Shekhar confirmed receiving the complaint. The girl was to deboard at Bareilly station.
Karishma had last talked to her elder sister Kirti on January 8 afternoon, informing that she was travelling in Jallianwalabagh Express and had crossed Faizabad. She had told Kirti that she would be reaching Bareilly in the evening.
Saurabh, who had reached Bareilly railway station to pick her up, said when they tried calling Karishma, her cellphone was switched off.
Karishma had left for Ranchi from Faizabad on December 31 to participate in a national hockey tournament organised under the aegis of School Games Federation of India. Saurabh said he took his sister to Faizabad from where she along with 15 other players from UP and team manager left for Ranchi.
When contacted, Rahul Singh, the coach of boys hockey team, who accompanied the players, said, on January 7 evening they boarded a train from Ranchi and reached Varanasi the next day. There, they boarded the Jallianwalabagh Express and reached Faizabad in the afternoon, where he and other players got down while Karishma continued the journey for Bareilly. “We have no idea what happened and why she could not reach Bareilly,” he said.