Karwar: Uttara Kannada SP Mr. K.T. Balakrishna, has said that the number of missing cases involving girls aged between 11 and 25, has been on the rise in the district.

According to statistics released by Mr. Balakrishna, on an average, one girl goes missing every third day.

According to SP, 144 missing cases had been reported in the past six months. Of them, 121 had been solved. Of these cases, 62 were of girls and only 21 had been detected. Though Mr. Balakrishna denied any motive behind these missing cases, there was a suspicion that some gangs were behind them.

President of the Karwar unit of Bharatiya Janata party, Rajesh Nayak alleged that the modus operandi of the gangs was to trap young girls through enticement. He said that the girls eloped and never got traced.

He added that there were gangs who convert these girls into some other religion. Mr. Nayak said that soon after a missing complaint was filed by the parents, the girls suddenly surfaced in Goa.

A week ago, a boy and girl from different religions disappeared from Karwar.

When the police traced them in Goa, they showed a marriage certificate and affidavit of the girl who had converted into the boy’s religion. The police had to return empty handed.

Mr. Nayak said that it was shocking how people of Karwar got marriage certificates in Goa.

A police officer said that it was easy to get a marriage certificate in Goa by bribing officials.

Mr. Nayak said that in some cases, girls were taken to Mumbai or northern States.

A strict police vigil on this would stop such crimes.