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The lure of Bollywood made two minor girls of Hisar, Haryana -- both students of Class VIII -- to make a trip to Mumbai to meet mega star Shahrukh Khan and also try for roles in TV serials.
One of the girls stole Rs 15,000 and ran away from their homes on Wednesday and boarded the Paschim Express for Mumbai. But the Government Railway Police got wind of the news and stopped the girls when the train halted at Dahanu railway station on Thursday.
The girls will be reunited with their families shortly.
The girls reside in the Sabji Mandi Chowk area in Hissar and study in the same school. However, their favourite pass time is to watch television serials.
The girls said they were greatly impressed by Shahrukh Khan’s latest movie Jab Tak Hai Jaan, and it was only after watching the film that they decided to meet the megastar in Mumbai, and also to try their luck in TV serials.
One of the girl's is physically challenged, as both her legs were amputated after a train ran over her when she was barely five years old, and she walks with specially fitted boots.
Before heading for New Delhi railway station, one of them stole Rs 15,000 from her mother’s cupboard.
The father of one of the girls registered a missing complaint after he came to know that his daughter had escaped with the cash and complained to the Hissar police who passed on the message across the country. The Valsad Control Room got the message and were also informed that the girls could be travelling by the Paschim Express; but by that time, the train had crossed Gujarat and entered Maharashtra.
At Baroda station, a travelling ticket examiner had questioned the girls as to why they were alone, when the girls lied that they were going to meet a relative in Mumbai who would be coming to collect them at Bandra station, Karishma confessed.
“The girls reiterated the same lie to other TTEs who boarded from Surat and Valsad. But as soon as we got the message from Valsad Control Room, we started checking the entire train at Dahanu station,” Palghar GRP Inspector Pramod Davre said.
“We found the girls in the first compartment after the engine and asked them to get off the train. We then took the girls to the Dahanu Railway Police Station where they recorded their statement. One of the girls said her uncle works in a diamond cutting factory in Surat. We have informed him and he will be coming to Dahanu soon to fetch the girls,” Palghar GRP Inspector Pramod Davre said.
We will counsel the girls through a government psychiatrist as they are still going crazy over Shahrukh Khan, the officer added.