With school bags on their shoulders and Rs 5 in their kitty, five children — all between 11 and 12 years of age — ran away from their houses in Jharkhand on their way to school. Their joy ride soon came to an abrupt end after cops of the New Market police station caught hold of them while they were loitering aimlessly on the streets. The police contacted their parents through the Jharkhand police before handing them over to a city-based NGO.

Abinash Kumar, Ramender Tudu, Nikhil Munda, Manoj Kumar Behera and Krishna Gope are residents of Jadugoda village in the Singhbhum district of Jharkhand. All studied in Class VI at Jadugoda High School.

“Last night, we found them loitering aimlessly on the streets. They are innocent children. When asked what they were doing here they said that they wanted to meet Sourav Ganguly and see Howrah bridge. They had also planned to go to Mumbai and meet Shah Rukh Khan and Sachin Tendulkar.

They did not have money on them and ran away from home on their way to school. We have contacted their parents,” said Samir Gupta, Officer-in-charge of New Market police station.

He added that their parents are employees of uranium mines under the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) and they live in the UCIL quarters.

It was around midnight last night when locals of Free School Street informed the New Market police that five children carrying school bags were loitering on the streets. A team of policemen went to the spot and caught them.