Raipur:
Four police officials, recruited by the state police as auxiliary personnel, were on Monday evening kidnapped by suspected Maoists in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.
Officials said that the personnel were kidnapped from a civilian bus plying in the Kutru police station area of the said district.
Additional Director General of Police (anti-Naxal operations) RK Vij confirmed the development to PTI, saying that the personnel were in the rank of assistant constable.
The four personnel have been identified as Jaydev Yadav, Mangal Sodhi, Raju Tela and Rama Majji. These personnel are inducted to assist state police in conducting anti-Naxal operations and are also called as 'followers'.
Bijapur Superintendent of Police, KL Dhruv, said, "An armed group of Naxals stopped a passenger bus in which the four assistant constables were travelling and kidnapped them under Kutru police station limits this evening."
Officials said that special police and paramilitary reinforcements have been rushed to comb the jungles where the incident was reported and no communication has been received till now about their whereabouts.
"It is suspected that Maoists were conducting a search on some civilian vehicles in the said area and finding these men in a bus they took them away with them," a senior official said.