The apathetic attitude of the police administration dealing with cases of missing girls has come as a shocker to their families.

Eight days have elapsed since a girl was allegedly abducted from the Indra Nagar area of Kankerbagh but the police, instead of recovering her, have termed it a case of elopement and refrained from taking further action.

Three teenaged girls suddenly disappeared from Kalyanpur village under Athmalgola police station of Patna rural on Monday. On Tuesday, the police, unable to track them, again termed it a case of elopement, claiming that all the three had fled their homes with their respective lovers.

An officer at Athmalgola police station claimed that the police were investigating the case.

“All the three girls are aged between 15 and 16 years. The police cannot divulge their names or give out details of their families at present. They left their homes at Kalyanpur village for the neighbouring Jamaalpur village by an autorickshaw for tuitions but didn’t return. Their families lodged missing reports with the police station and attempts are being made to recover them. The police are raiding several places. It seems that they went away willingly because of love affairs. We have found some cellphone details which hint at love angle and it could be elopement. Investigations are on,” said the officer.

Last week, Patna senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaaj sent the Kankerbagh station house officer (SHO) to the police lines for dereliction of duty.

“The Kankerbagh police station, in the past eight days, has received two cases of missing girls. In the first one, the girl was allegedly kidnapped. The police still have not been able to recover her. Last week, the men-in-uniform claimed that the girl was still in Patna. It was followed by a case of an alleged rape attempt of a saleswoman in the same police station area. Though the girl later retracted from her statement, the SHO was removed as he didn’t question her properly and didn’t perform his duties properly,” said a police officer.

Sources said when it comes to registered cases, the police dealt with more than 13 cases of missing girls over the last two years.

“In most cases, it would not be wrong to say that the girls fled with their lovers. However, giving such direct statements is not correct until they are recovered. In the Athmalgola case, it is hard to believe that all the three girls fled with their respective boyfriends at the same time. They may be friends but claiming them to be cases of elopement before finding anything concrete is not a good sign. The police are treating them as missing cases and investigations are on,” said a police officer.

Meanwhile, a 14-year-old boy, Rahul Kumar, who left home on Monday evening to buy biscuits, went missing. His family lodged a missing diary at the local Airport police station.

The police said the son of Kaushal Kishore Shah, who works as a peon at the state Legislative Assembly and lives in Kautilya Nagar, went missing. Efforts were on to track him down.