Mangaluru: The lifeguards of the Panambur Beach Tourism Development Project on Tuesday morning spotted five teenage boys on the beach who appeared to have had no escorts or parents with them.
Their conduct raised suspicions. When questioned, they gave conflicting versions. Initially they said that they had come to visit an aunt of one of them in Mangaluru.
Their mobile phones had been on flight mode. When the voice mode was activated, they began ringing repeatedly. The boys then revealed that they had come from the school direct on the previous day, changed their uniforms and travelled to Mangaluru by the night train, without informing their parents.
The worried parents, as their children had not returned from school, had already filed complaints at the Yashwantpur police station. Search was also made at the Palace Grounds venue of Sandalwood actor Shivrajkumar’s daughter’s wedding, with the possibility of their having gone there out of curiosity.
The boys have been identified as Matein, son of Aslam from Yesvantpur, Akshay, son of Ashok, Mukesh, son of Prakash, Sudeep, son of Srinivas and Nishant, son of Devaraj, all from Mattikere. All the five are students of IX standard at Lourdes High School in Mattikere, Bengaluru.
Since Akshay had visited the city once earlier, he was familiar with some of the worth-seeing spots, hence they arrived at Panambur.
The boys were handed to the custody of the Panambur police and their parents were informed. They were to arrive by train later on the day to escort them back home.