COIMBATORE: Seven teenage boys, including six hailing from Madhya Pradesh, escaped from a private home for children in Salem on Saturday night.

Acting on a tip that minors from north Indian states were brought to be engaged as daily wagers in Tamil Nadu, the Salem railway police rescued six minors, all aged 15 to 17 years, when they got down from a train recently at the Salem railway junction.

Inquiries with Agariya (23), from Madhya Pradesh, who brought them all, revealed that the boys were to be employed in a borewell-digging firm in Thoothukudi. Two others, Sundar (45) and Muthukrishnan (35) from Thoothukudi, who came to take the boys with them, were also arrested.

The rescued boys were then handed over to Childline authorities and later sheltered in a home for children at the Mulluvadi Gate area.

The six boys from Madhya Pradesh, along with a 15-year-old boy from Ammapet in Salem, escaped from the home late at night.

Based on a complaint from the authorities, the Hastampatti police registered a case, and special teams have been formed to trace the teenagers.