According to the police, the boys left the school at around 12.05 pm on Saturday and failed to return by the 5.30 pm deadline, prompting the school authorities to alert the police. (File Photo)Three Class 6 students from one of the oldest and most prestigious boarding schools in Shimla have been missing since Saturday under mysterious circumstances, the police said on Sunday, adding that they registered an FIR under section 137B (kidnapping) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita after the school’s principal filed a complaint.Sources said the missing students are boys hailing from Kullu in Himachal Pradesh, Mohali in Punjab, and Karnal in Haryana and that one of them is a distant relative of a minister in a neighbouring state. The families of the missing students have arrived in Shimla and are accompanying police teams tasked with tracing the boys.According to the police, the boys left the school at around 12.05 pm on Saturday and failed to return by the 5.30 pm deadline, prompting the school authorities to alert the police. “The missing students were in school uniform and two of them had left their cell phones in their hostel rooms. Collectively, they were carrying around Rs 3,000 when they left. No staff member accompanied them,” a source said.Repeated attempts to contact school representatives went unanswered.A police officer said the boys had gone out on the school’s designated “Outing Day”, when students are allowed to leave campus for up to six hours. CCTV footage showed the students leaving the school gate at 12.05 pm, after which no trace of them has been found.“Apart from the missing boys, many other students also went to Mall Road. While some claimed the missing boys were with them, we have checked CCTV footage from Mall Road and adjoining areas but did not find them,” the officer said.The officer further stated that the school administration had yet to provide any standard operating procedure (SOP) governing how students are allowed to leave the campus on Outing Day. “We have learned that on several occasions, students have also hired private taxis to travel to different places in and around Shimla,” he added.The New Shimla police have alerted their counterparts in neighbouring districts as well as Punjab and Haryana about the missing students.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Shimla