No trace yet of abducted Bihar cops

With the Maoists continuing to elude the police dragnet, combing operations to trace the three policemen abducted by the Naxals were on Saturday expanded to fresh areas in Bihar's Banka, Kaimur, Jamui, Munger and Lakhisarai districts.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is personally monitoring the combing operation, has called an all-party meeting in Patna on Saturday to discuss the situation arising out of the crisis, officials said.

"The area of combing has been further expanded to the districts of Banka, Kaimur and fresh hilly and forest areas in Munger, Jamui and Lakhisarai districts," Director General of Police (DGP) Neelmani told PTI in Patna.

Without specifying the security deployment, Neelmani said adequate security personnel were combing the areas, mostly in difficult hilly trains and a big mountain bordering these districts.

On reports that the mastermind of the encounter in which the Maoists killed seven policemen and looted around 35 rifles from policemen on Sunday in Lakhisarai district has been arrested, he said, "We have no information about it".

In Jamui, police sources said that two naxalites, including Pinki Yadav, were apprehended in Jamui town on Saturday morning when they were speaking to their colleagues from a telephone booth.

Official sources said the Centre has dispatched more than 200 additional security personnel and two choppers to Lakhisarai to assist in the anti-Naxal campaign launched in the extremist controlled pockets along the Bihar-Jharkhand border.

The Maoists had kidnapped sub-inspectors Rupesh Kumar and Abhay Yadav, Bihar Military Police havildar Ehtesham Khan and assistant sub-inspector Lucas Tete after the encounter on Sunday. Tete's bullet-riddled body was found on Friday after expiry of the deadline set by the ultras for swapping them with eight Maoists.

Self-proclaimed Maoist spokesman Avinash had on Thursday claimed that the rebels have killed Yadav. But state police officials are yet to confirm it.

Yadav's family members and villagers from Shahpur Kamal in Begusarai district blocked the national highway near Begusarai town for the second consecutive day on Saturday to build pressure on the state government.

The state top police officials are in constant touch with their counterparts in Jharkhand to assist in the combing operations and seal the escape routes of Maoists.

Six units of Cheetah attached to Special Task Force (STF) and additional Cobra personnel too were assisting the police in the operation.