Kota (Rajasthan), Feb 24: A 17-year-old JEE aspirant who went missing from his hostel here on February 13 was traced to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, police said on Saturday.

The boy, Piyush Kapasia of Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahar, left his hostel as he was depressed over his class 12 marks. He is being brought back to Kota, they said.

Kapasia was preparing for IIT-JEE at a coaching institute here for two years. He left his hostel on February 13 but did not return. He also did not respond to his parents' calls, following which his family reported him missing, according to police.

An FIR was registered at Jawahar Nagar police station.

Later, CCTV footage showed Kapasia standing at Kota railway station with a bag in his hands, police had said earlier.

Superintendent of Police, Kota City, Amrita Duhan told reporters on Saturday that Kapasia was found in Dharamsala and he was depressed.

After the boy was reported missing, police teams were constantly working to trace him. When the teams reached Haridwar on Friday, it was found that he had left for Dharamshala, the SP said.

Kapasia reached Dharamsala via Dehradun and Haridwar. He is being brought back to Kota by police teams, Deputy Superintendent of Police Bhawani Singh said.

The boy will be provided counselling once he arrives here, police said.

According to Kapasia's family members, he scored 98 per cent marks in class 10 and performed consistently well in regular tests at his coaching institute in class 11. However, he did not do well in class 12 and the recent JEE-Mains.

In a similar incident, a NEET aspirant, Aryan Mitra (17) of West Bengal's Siliguri, went missing from his hostel in Landmark City in the Kunhari police station area here on February 21, according to police.

The parents of Mitra, who was scheduled to appear for a class 12 exam on February 22, called the hostel manager when he did not respond to their calls. The hostel manager lodged a police complaint in the matter on February 22, police said.

Based on the hostel manager's complaint, a case was registered in the matter. Police teams are searching for the boy, Circle Inspector Arvind Bhardwaj said.

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Pune (PTI): A weekend picnic at Pavana river in Pune district of Maharashtra turned tragic for a group of youngsters on Sunday, with three of them drowning in the water body, police said.

A group of seven men had gone to the river near Thugaon in Maval tehsil in the afternoon.

"Three of the seven youths could not gauge the depth of the river and slipped into a whirlpool. Their friends raised an alarm; however, by then, all three had drowned," said Dinesh Tayde, senior police inspector, Lonavala (Rural).

He said the bodies were retrieved with the help of local rescuers. 

The deceased have been identified as Ashwin Bhalerao (18), Ayan Shaikh, and Prathamesh Shinde (21), who were residents of Yerwada, Hadapsar, and Sayyadwadi in Pune, respectively. 

In a similar incident, three men drowned in the Jadhavwadi dam in Maval tehsil while attempting to click a selfie two days back.