Bhubaneswar, Sept. 18: Police today rescued two Class VIII students, who had gone missing three days ago from a private school at Chandrasekharpur, from the Sikharchandi hills.

The police said both the students, identified as Rudra Prasad Mohanty and Subhendu Mund, had fled from their school, declining the allegations of kidnapping.

The police said both Rudra and Subhendu had visited several places, including Puri, Konark and Bhubaneswar, in the past three days.

The duo had been missing since Monday afternoon after their school got over.

"We received information on two students roaming in the hills and later rescued both of them. The duo have been handed over to their parents," said inspector in charge of Chandrasekharpur police station Devi Shankar Pratap.

The police said that a few months ago Subhendu had fled from his school and was later rescued from Chennai. However, this time, he managed to persuade his friend and ran away from school on Monday.

The police said both the students went to Konark on Monday and later reached Puri the next day. "The CCTV footage from Puri station revealed that both of them had boarded a Calcutta-bound train on Tuesday but got down from the train at Bhubaneswar railway station," said a police official.

After reaching Bhubaneswar, they had been staying in the hills before being traced this morning. The police said Subhendu had taken around Rs 1,000 in cash with him. The duo decided to return to Bhubaneswar after they had run out of money.

Chandrasekharpur police started investigation after receiving two separate complaints by Subhendu's father, Rajat Kumar Mund, and Rudra's father, Bijay Kumar Mohanty.

Besides, the private school authorities have also lodged another complaint.