Security forces search for 'abducted' sub-engineer, construction firm employee

Security forces have launched a search operation in the forests of Chhattisgarh's Balrampur district to trace a government sub-engineer and a private construction company employee, who were allegedly abducted by Naxals, police said today.

A group of Naxals set ablaze five vehicles and machines engaged in road construction in the Samri area of the district yesterday and allegedly abducted three persons, including Petrus Dungdung, a sub-engineer attached to the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), the police said.

The other two were employees of a private construction company. One of them, Raju Gupta, returned to Samri last night, while the other, Shankar Bihari, was yet to be traced, they added.

"Joint teams of the district police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have launched a search operation in the interior forests of Samri, adjoining Jharkhand, but they are yet to find any clue about the two men," Balrampur Superintendent of Police (SP) T R Koshima told PTI over the phone.

"Of the three men who went missing from the construction site, one (Gupta) returned safely last night. We are yet to question him as he is not in a position to speak right now," the SP said.

He said they were yet to receive any message from the Maoists regarding the incident, adding that it was still not clear if the rebels had abducted the two men.

Meanwhile, the wife of the-sub engineer appealed to the ultras to release her husband on humanitarian grounds.

"He is a government employee and was just doing his duty honestly. I just want him to return safely and I appeal to them to free him," Dungdung's wife, who did not want to be named, said, adding that she was confident that the administration would ensure her husband's safe return.

Naxals had set ablaze a JCB machine, a road roller and three heavy trucks engaged in the construction of a road under PMGSY between Bandarchua and Pundag villages in the district, around 450km from state capital Raipur.

After the incident, Dungdung, Gupta and Bihari, who were working at the site, went missing and it is suspected that they were abducted by the ultras.