A sketch used for representational purpose.

Three minor girls from Maharashtra allegedly staged their own kidnapping in a bid to earn money and visit South Korea to meet the hugely popular BTS pop band members, police said on Monday (December 30, 2024).

The girls, one 11 years’ old and two aged 13, hailing from Dharashiv district, had planned to go to Pune to earn money which they needed to travel to South Korea and meet their favourite K-pop band members, an official from Omerga police station said.

On December 27, the Dharashiv police received a call on their helpline number with a person claiming three girls were forcibly taken away in a school van from Omerga taluka in the district, he said.

The police swung into action and found the number belonged to a woman, who was travelling in a State transport bus going from Omerga to Pune.

They tracked the bus while it was passing through Mohol area in the Maharashtra’s Solapur district, the official said.

The Omerga police got in touch with their counterparts in Mohol as well as a woman who runs a shop at the Mohol bus stand, he said.

The three girls were subsequently taken down from the bus with the woman’s help and brought to a local police station.

The Omerga police team along with the minor’s parents later reached there, the official said.

The next day, the police enquired with the girls, who told them that they had a plan to go to Pune, work there and earn money which they needed to go to South Korea and meet their favourite members of the BTS pop band, the official said.