A 17-year old girl from Bengaluru has been missing from her home for the past two months. The worried parents, who suspect a 'shamanism' connection to her disappearance, have reached out to the public on social media platforms.
Abhishek, the father of the minor girl Anushka, said she left her home on October 31 and "somebody influenced her".
"Somebody has influenced her. She can't leave home and go somewhere on her own. I'm trying to reach out to people on social media to help me find my daughter," he said.
Anushka's mother Archana said that she was influenced by shamanism, an ancient tradition characterized by belief in an unseen world of gods, demons, and ancestral spirits.
"She told us that she wanted to do shamanism type of meditation. We told her to learn it at home only. We asked her to learn shamanism at home only. I request her to come back," Archana said.
Abhishek said that the efforts of the police to trace her have not been successful so far and they were also using the social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram.
"It has been two months. Although the police are doing their job, it has not yielded results so far. I am doing this on my personal level and trying to reach more and more people through social media accounts," he said.
"I have opened hashtag like findAnushka. People have been re-tweeting my messages. Anywhere if my daughter sees these messages, or if anybody sees her or has seen her, please inform me. If my daughter is under influence of somebody, some organization, I request people to inform me. She is a minor," Abhishek said.
He said they had noticed some behavioural changes in their daughter since July-August.
"She was not taking much to us. We gave her time and space as she was not able to get to the college of her choice. She cannot take this step on her own, she has been influenced," he added.
Police said a case has been registered and efforts are being made to trace the girl.
"We are looking at all angles including her previous phone activities and checking CCTV footage. A dedicated team is investigating the case," Vinayak Patil, DCP Bengaluru (North) said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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