CHHATTISGARH, Apr 05:
Security agencies are working to ascertain a claim made by Naxals that they abducted a Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) commando after the ambush in Chhattisgarh on Saturday that left at least 22 security personnel dead, official sources said. The attack is suspected to have been led by Maoist commander Madvi Hidma.
At least two journalists, reportedly, said that they got calls from an unidentified person, claiming that a CoBRA commando, who went missing after the encounter on the border of Sukma and Bijapur districts, was in the captivity of Maoists. The caller also informed that the commando was safe and will not be harmed, according to the journalists.
“The caller did not identify himself. He said Maoists will release the jawan in two-three days,” Ganesh Mishra, one of the two journalists to receive the call, was quoted as saying. He is the president of the Bijapur Press Club. Raja Singh Rathore, a journalist with Navbharat in Sukma, said he too received the call, but added that the caller identified himself as Hidma. “He told me that the missing jawan was in his custody. I asked about the well-being of the jawan, and was told that he was safe. The person, who claimed to be Hidma, added that more details and photographs will be shared soon,” Rathore was quoted as saying.
A top officer in the security establishment said that they have “reasons to believe” that this claim, made over phone, is true.
“We have not been able to locate commando Rakeshwar Singh Minhas of the 210th CoBRA battalion till now. However, we do not have concrete evidence to substantiate the claim made by some Naxal elements that he has been taken away by them,” a senior officer told PTI.
The CoBRA is the specialised unit of the CRPF that was raised in 2009 to undertake intelligence-based operations against Maoists and insurgents in the northeast.
The officer said multiple units of the security forces are still out in the jungles to look for the commando who hails from Jammu, and also to intercept movement of the ultras.
Constable Minhas was with the unit that went out for the anti-Naxal operation on Saturday morning, which left 22 troopers dead and 31 others injured.
Of the 22 fatalities, CRPF lost eight men, including seven CoBRA commandos, while one jawan is from the Bastariya battalion, eight from the DRG and five from the Special Task Force.
Meanwhile, Minhas’s wife broke down while speaking to the media and appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to ensure her husband’s safe return. “I request Modi sahab and Amit Shah sahab to bring him back. I spoke to my husband on Friday night around 9:30pm. He told me he was going for an operation duty,” she said.
“Please bring him back like the way you brought Abhinandan back from Pakistan,” she added, referring to Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman who was captured and then released by the neighbouring country after an aerial dogfight in February 2019.
