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Police still clueless about two men abducted by Maoists

Kolkata: While a State Intelligence Branch officer and an NGO worker, abducted by suspected Maoists, remained untraced on Tuesday, efforts by the West Bengal police to track them down appear to have hit the wall with no clue on how to aid the search operations.

Partha Biswas of the Intelligence Branch, and Soumyajit Bose went missing from the Ghatbera area in Balrampur sub-division of Purulia district late on Friday.

No communication

Though there has been no communication from the Maoists so far, the police suspect that it is the handiwork of the rebels since the area has been under the control of Maoists for some time now.

But the absence of any communication from the extremists is putting the pressure on the police who are already clueless about the whereabouts of the abducted men and cannot undertake information-specific operations.

Additional Director-General (Law and Order), Surajit Kar Purakayastha admitted that in the absence of specific inputs no intensive search operations could be launched so far.

Responding to reports of Maoists having called up the family members of Mr. Bose, Mr. Purakayastha said that he could not comment about it.

Hilly terrain

Though some search operations were conducted in the forests surrounding the village, wherefrom Mr. Bose had made his last call to his family on Friday evening, they drew a blank.

Thehilly terrain along the border with Jharkhand has also compounded the problem of a thorough combing operation.

The Maoists' silence is also disturbing in view of the fact that two constables, who went missing in September 2009 from near Lalgarh, had not yet been traced. Though the police are sure that the Maoists had abducted them, the latter never owned up the matter.

Strengthening base

Amid these glitches, however, a fact that is highlighted is the absence of an effective intelligence network of the police in the region.

A senior police official overseeing the anti-Maoist security operations also admitted this.

He pointed out that while Lalgarh and its adjoining areas in Paschim Medinipur district enjoyed most resources and attention in the combat against the Maoists, the rebels strengthened their base in the neighbouring Bankura and Purulia districts.

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Police still clueless about two men abducted by Maoists

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