Another Nithari in making

A BJP member on Thursday claimed in the Rajya Sabha that over 2,000 children have gone missing from the national capital during the last 13 months and feared that another Nithari was in the making.

Raising the matter during Zero Hour, Prabhat Jha said the missing children included 550 from the North East district, over 350 from West district and about 300 from the Outer district. Jha apprehended that the disappearance of the children could be for clandestine organ sale.

The BJP member's concern, which was spontaneously shared by other members, came in the wake of recent reports of six children going missing from East Delhi, prompting the Delhi Police Chief to announce a separate 24-hour helpline for missing children.

Media reports have also said that 22 children have gone missing from a single East Delhi colony in the last four years. Jha said that with Nithari incident still fresh in the mind, the disappearance of so many children was a grave matter and the government should take it very seriously.

The sensational incident in Nithari in Noida, in which 19 children were brutally killed, shook the nation in February 2005.