Uran: School stands by students, combing operation continues

Face cover student at Uran police station who saw four suspecious at Uran education society school in Uran PicsAtul KambleUran A day after the nations top security agencies swooped in and imposed high alert on the coastal town of Uran on the word of two teenagers from the local school their principal said that she has complete faith that both students were telling the truth about seeing armed men talk about launching a terror attackYesterday midday had reported how a high alert was sounded across the entire state after a Std X student spotted a group of heavily armed men on her way to school at 630 am The 16yearold was terrified to see the men lurking about in a suspicious manner while talking about blowing up buildings including her own school Uran Education Society Soon enough this information was confirmed by another student ndash a 17yearold boy in the first year of junior college who had also seen the armed menSecurity forces comb through Uran looking for the suspectsAlthough the suspected militants have not been found yet principal Swati Shiralkar 38 said she was sure that the kids were telling the truth and credited them for giving the national security forces an advantage is thwarting an attack The two students are now under the protection of NSG commandos while they are interrogated by different security agencies Sketches of the suspects have also been prepared with their helpAlso readFirst we will blow up school then ONGC Uran student overheard suspectI believe my students and trust what they have told the authorities If their tipoff had not been true then the police and other security agencies would not have them seriously and launched such a massive search operation to look for the suspects said Shiralkar adding I appreciate them for being alert and quickly informing the teachers about what they saw which resulted in the investigation agencies taking a quick step and declaring alert in Mumbai and adjoining areas I will felicitate both students on Republic Day for their alertnessPrincipal Swati ShiralkarShiralkar also told this reporter that she had questioned the students thrice herself before reaching out to the police And each time the students stuck to their version A teacher and supervisor also questioned them and got the same answersUran Education Society is well known for discipline I have been teaching for more than 15 years and have been the principal since the last two years but have never experienced such an incident However as teachers we can easily tell whether a student is lying just from their eyes added ShiralkarAlso readTerror alert in Uran Cops release sketch of suspect spotted by studentsThorough checksAround 730 am the girl was the first to be questioned by Shiralkar after which the principal decided to inform teachers and students about the potential threat A few of our teachers informed the students of FYJC commerce and one of the students confirmed that he too had seen a suspicious man roaming around the mountains at 7 am she saidThe school management then thought that the two kids may have colluded and come up with the story but after double and triple checks they could not find any connection between the girl and boy Neither were they in the same class nor did they live nearbyThe girl is a Maharashtrian student in Std X and the boy is a south Indian in FYJC Commerce Neither are they in touch nor do they know each other said Shiralkar adding Both of them are from welltodo families and dont have any history of misbehaviour in school Also both of them are disciplined students and perform well The teachers too said that they dont doubt either studentOnce the teachers were satisfied that the students were telling the truth it was time to jump into action Shiralkar informed the local police immediately When they hadnt heard anything for a while the teachers and students began to relax under the assumption that the whole thing was just a drill But by noon an alert was declared and a massive search operation was launched to find the masked militantsSince then the two students and Shiralkar have been questioned multiple times by different investigation agencies including the Intelligence Bureau AntiTerrorism Squad local police and crime branch the Navy including othersSchool remains shutWe couldnt just leave the students in a state of panic We had to handle the situation so we tried to maintain calm We received numerous calls from parents and told them not to worry By 3 pm all the students had vacated the school recalled ShiralkarYesterday as well most schools and colleges remained shut due to the statewide alert We declared a holiday on Thursday itself A meeting was held for teachers and management on Friday where the facts were narrated to all the teachers so that they do not panic unnecessarily We believe the investigation agencies will find a result said Shiralkar3200Students in Uran Education Society