The global fandom of the famous K-pop band BTS has no boundaries. Now, three minor girls from Dharashiv district of India's Maharashtra staged their own abduction in a bid to travel to South Korea and meet their favourite band. But their plan was short-lived as the cops tracked their bus near Solapur, counselled them, and reunited them safely with their families. 

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Crazy obsession with BTS: Failed plan

The minor girls, two of them aged 13 and one aged 11, belong to the Omerga area of Dharashiv. 

 "The girls followed BTS on social media and planned to go to South Korea to meet the band members. To fund their travel, they decided to go to Pune first and earn some money," said police official Sanjay Jadhav.

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On December 28, the girls boarded a bus en route to Pune. One of the 13-year-old girls dialled the phone to speak to her parents just before departing, claiming that she and her friends had been kidnapped. The girl assumed this would be a way out to prevent her parents from being worried about their absence. 

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Police intervention 

The parents immediately informed the police after the phone call. The authorities soon sprung to action, and with the help of the mobile phone tracing system, managed to locate the girls within 30 minutes. 

"The bus was stopped near Solapur’s Mohol, around 115 km from Omerga. The girls were brought out of the bus and taken back to their hometown," Jadhav said.

The police said all three girls hail from middle-class families and had been adversely affected by social media. 

"We counselled the minors about the adverse effects of excessive social media exposure. Their parents were also advised to monitor and limit their children’s screen time," a police officer said.

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Call for awareness! 

No legal offence case has been registered in connection with the incident as what's important is to educate both the children and the families to avoid similar situations in the future by limiting the child’s screen time. 

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Similar incidents happened in past too 

A similar incident took place in January, when three teenage girls tried to flee their village in Karur in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu to meet BTS.

The 13-year-old girls, driven by the love for music and dance, decided to travel to Seoul without passports or adequate money. 

Their parents obviously panicked when the girls didn't return home and lodged a police complaint.

Authorities managed to find the girls in the city of Vellore.

The girls were then placed in a state-run institution where they were counselled along with their parents.

Later, they reached their home districts safely with their families.

(With inputs from agencies)