Raipur, September 21: More than 24 hours after seven security personnel went missing in a Naxalite area in south Bastar, the police are yet to reach the spot where the villagers claimed to have seen three bodies lying in the forests between Bhopalpattanam and Badrakali in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.
“We have been told that the villagers have seen three bodies. But our forces could not reach the area before sunset on Monday. It is an extremely hostile terrain where they need to tread very cautiously,” IGP (Bastar Range) T J Longkumeer said. “The movement of forces in the area is bound to be very slow during day time and not possible after sunset in view of the possibility of landmine attacks and ambush by the Maoists.”
Though there are reports that the three bodies seen by villagers were those of an ASI, a head constable and a constable, the IGP refused to confirm the same. “I can only say that we are yet to trace the missing policemen,” he said.
Police said six of the missing policemen left for Badrakali from their Bhopalpattanam base on two motorcycles on Sunday. Another constable, posted at Badrakali, left the camp four days ago for treatment at Bhopalpattanam. His family said he neither reached home nor the camp.
———Agencies