Rourkela, Sept. 7: The girl inmates of the state-run sports hostel here, who had fled alleging staff misbehaviour, returned to the academy today.

Among the 67 girls in the hostel, 28 had fled, alleging misbehaviour by one of the attendants. However, 12 of them came back yesterday after coach A.N. Bihari intervened. The rest of the girls returned today.

The girls have accused Ambica Bhoi, a lady attendant of misbehaviour. They have also levelled charges against head coach Bihari.

Speaking to local tehsildar Pradip Sahu, who was recording their statements, the girls alleged that Bhoi kept five to six girls on rotation to run her errands. The chores included cleaning her utensils, giving her a foot massage and even dropping her at the bus stop picking her up.

"She would threaten us, saying that we would not be allowed to play tournaments if we did not attend to her," said one of the girls.

The girls also said that repeated efforts to bring this to the attention of Bihari went unnoticed. Bihari, however, denied these claims. "I am not sure about what they are saying and they have never told me anything like this," he said.

On the other hand, Sahu, during initial investigation, said: "They are accusing the lady attendant and also Bihari. My preliminary investigation is done."

The girls finally lost patience on Saturday when Bhoi allegedly verbally abused two girls for going to the boys' hostel. The girls explained to the tehsildar that they had gone there to attend a function and were accompanied by another attendant Sandhya.

Following the incident, they had a meeting and fled after Sunday's mass in the church.

District information and public relations officer J. Panigrahi, who is the drawing and disbursing authority of the sports hostel, said he would take action against the woman if she were found guilty. Bhoi refused to comment on the matter.