The skeletons of three minor girls, who had been reported missing for the past month, have been found in a forest in the Harra area here.
The girls had left their home with their mother in Belahi village of the Halia area in Mirzapur district a month ago and were missing since then.
The mother is now absconding after the recovery of skeletons that have been sent for autopsy and forensic examination.
Station Officer (SO), Halia Rajkumar Singh said that some local shepherds spotted skeletons in the jungles of Harra on Wednesday afternoon and alerted the husband and brother of the girls.
They reached the spot and ascertained their identity with the help of clothes lying there.
The police were informed and the skeletons were seized.
The SO said that efforts were being made to trace the absconding mother.
Initial investigation revealed that one Devidas Kole of Belahi village had three sons and a daughter from his first wife Falguni, who died a few years ago.
He had then married Sima, who had two daughters from her first husband.
After marriage, Sima’s daughters also started living with Kole’s family.
On August 16, Sima left home with the three daughters — Golu, 12, Munni, 10, and Mamta, 8, without informing her husband.
Kole contacted his in-laws to get their whereabouts but failed.
On August 21, Sima contacted her brother Ramakant over the phone and said that she was in Indore with her daughters.
On the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, she reached Ramakant’s place alone and on being asked about her daughters, she said that she had left them at Indore railway station.
Later, Kole and Ramakant reached Indore and also visited Ujjain to search for the three girls but could not find them.
Sima left her home when she learnt that the skeletons of the girls had been found.