Boy missing for one month may have been kidnapped: police

A school student, missing for the past one month, is suspected to have been kidnapped in the Maoist-hit Kandhamal district, police said today.
Ratan Kumar Ranasandha, a student of Class VII of the Mandasura Ashram School, went missing on his way to school from his village Kirima on January 3.
The 14-year-old boy's mother, Tanita Ranasandha along with some villagers, visited different places for some days in search of the boy before she lodged a complaint two days ago, police said.
"We registered a case when the mother of the missing boy lodged an FIR on Sunday," said IIC (Bramhanigaon) S Beura. Since the student has been missing for a long time, he may have been kidnapped, Beura said.

Police have taken the incident very seriously as the banned CPI (Maoist) in Kandhamal district is reportedly targeting teenagers for recruitment, he said.
A police team from Bramhanigaon rushed to the school yesterday, while another team went to his village.