Imphal, Aug 28 : In a bid to avoid punishment at school, three girl students put both the police and the Manipur administration on high alert on Monday as they cooked up a story that two people had kidnapped them along with 17 other students in Bishnupur district. The police later detained the girls before handing them over to their parents. 'This news has been verified by the district police and it is established that the children fabricated the story as they skipped their classes today. The children have been handed over to their parents,' Manipur police said in X, formerly Twitter. A police officer said that the girl students claimed that they were kidnapped by two persons wearing masks on the pretext of taking them for picnic along with 17 school children from Kabowakching. The three minor students changed their school uniform at the place of the relative of one of them. 'While traveling on an Eco van they became suspicious of the motive of the kidnappers and jumped out of the vehicle at Kamong Maishnam area,' the police said quoting the girls. A senior police officer said that there was inconsistency in their statements. 'Proper verification was done by following due formalities. It was established that their kidnapping story was fabricated as they skipped their class on Monday,' the officer said. The girls told the police that the kidnappers offered to take them for a picnic and asked them to get into a van. As the news went viral, it set alarm bells ringing within the Manipur police and the civil administration at a time when the state has been dealing with ethnic turmoil since May 3, which has killed around 170 people so far. The concocted story further heightened the tension a day before the special Assembly session. /IANS