PESHAWAR: Six schoolchildren who had mysteriously disappeared from a private school in Rawalpindi on Thursday were recovered from a hotel at Hashtnagri area here on Monday, police said.

Peshawar Senior Superintendent of Police Tahir Ayub, while talking to Dawn said that police had got some tips about presence of the students in a hotel in the main city areas, who were recovered and handed over to the Rawalpindi police.

He said that the reports about kidnapping of the children were wrong as they had come to Peshawar at their free will. “They said that some teachers repeatedly subjected them to corporal punishment which forced them to flee the school,” Mr Ayub quoted the students as saying.

The students informed police that they had apprised their parents about the harsh treatment of their teachers but they paid no attention towards them.

The SSP, however, avoided giving name of the hotel and denied the reports that someone had demanded ransom for their release. He said all such reports were incorrect.

Another official pleading anonymity said that the students Iqra Nasim, Wajiha, Areeba, Waleed, Abu Bakar and Hamza, probably studying in class-9 at a private school at Wilayat Colony in Rawalpindi had gone missing on Jan 19. He said that Rawalpindi police were searching them in Murree but they had fled to Peshawar.

The students, he said had been traced through their cellular phones who were all right and handed over to the police.