Balasore: Police have lodged a 15-year-old girl from Nilgiri, who was allegedly kidnapped by her 22-year-old partner about two months ago, in a short stay home here after she re-surfaced in the town on Saturday.

The girl surrendered before superintendent of police B. Jugal Kishor after the cops had launched a manhunt to trace her and the man after a video of the duo went viral on WhatsApp.

The duo had stated in the video that they were in a relationship and expressed fears that they could be killed by contract killers engaged by the girl's parents.

They mentioned that they had been on the run to save their lives and also sought help from the public. Claiming that they were in distress, they used social media to communicate their plight to people.

Jugal Kishor said: "We escorted the girl to Nigiri police station soon after she appeared before me. We recorded her statement and sent here for a medical examination. After completing all these procedures, we lodged her in a short stay home as she refused to return to her parents."

"The whereabouts of the man is yet to be known. We have started efforts to trace him," he said.

The Class X student from Baligohiri village in Nilgiri police limits had eloped with a resident of Khantapara# after coming out of a tuition class.

The girl's parents had lodged a complaint with Nilgiri police alleging that their daughter had been forcefully kidnapped by the accused.

Nilgiri police station inspector-in-charge Ramesh Chandra Singh said: "We conducted her medical examination and recorded her statement under sections 161 and 164 of the CrPC. She is pleading ignorance regarding the youth's whereabouts."

Aparna Mohapatra, secretary of the short stay home Nari Sangha, said: "We counselled the girl to return to her parents, but she refused. She neither divulged the places she stayed with the youth nor his whereabouts."