Meerut: Hours after 12-year-old Gauri Sharma went missing on her way to school on Monday and TOI journalist tweeted her photograph asking for help, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav tweeted back with instructions to Meerut SSP directing him to personally monitor a search operation and form teams to "#HelpFindGauri". Gauri Sharma had left her house in Meerut’s Somdutt Vihar at 8:30am on Monday with her brother but never reached school.
Her brother, Dhruv, 7, told TOI that his sister had told him to reach school and that she would be following him.
After the matter came to the fore, a TOI journalist tweeted with Gauri’s photograph and asked for help, “#HelpFindGauri 12-yr-old Gauri Sharma went missing from outside her school on Monday morning @yadavakhilesh”. Minutes after the tweet, a tweet from @CMOfficeUP asked for more details, which were then provided. Soon after, instructions were given by UP chief minister's office (CMO) via twitter handle @CMOfficeUP, which read, “#UPCM @yadavakhilesh instructs SSP Meerut to personally monitor the search operations of #Gauri case; special teams formed.”
Talking to TOI, Meerut SSP D C Dubey said, “We formed four teams – two headed by the crime branch and one each by the station officer of Medical College police station and the circle officer of Civil Lines area. A total of 20 police personnel were searching for the girl, and all efforts were being made to crack the case as soon as possible. Though we were not able to trace her location, she returned to her grandmother's house in Shastri Nagar area on Tuesday night.”
A missing case was filed in the matter at the Medical College police station on Monday. Asked about any clue that the family might have in the matter, Anuj Sharma, father of Gauri, said, “She had some issues at school after she was scolded by a teacher for not completing her homework. But she is not one of those who will take a scolding this seriously. I think she tried to bunk school but got lost. I am glad that she has returned home safely. “We want to give her time to calm down as she has been crying since her return.”