An officer of the West Bengal's Intelligence Branch and an NGO worker, suspected to have been abducted by Maoists, remained untraced on Thursday — six days after they went missing from the Ayodhya Hills area in Purulia district.
Partha Biswas and Soumyajit Bose went missing from the Ghatbera area late on Friday.
The police are still clueless about the whereabouts of the abducted persons and about the Maoists' motive, in the absence of any communication from the rebels.
Though the family members of Mr. Bose claimed to have received a call from the Maoists the day after they were abducted, saying that they were doing fine, the police denied having knowledge of any such communication.
Lack of communication has also slowed down operations to track the duo as some reports suggested that they might have been taken to Jharkhand through the porous inter-State border.
“We are in constant touch with our counterparts in Jharkhand but have not received any information yet,” Zulfikar Hasan, Inspector-General (Western Range), said.
Swachchatowa, the wife of Soumyajit Basu, made a second visit to the State Secretariat, and pleaded with the authorities to take steps to bring back her husband and his friend Biswas.
She met Director-General of Police Naparajit Mukherjee and Additional Director-General (Law and Order) S.K. Purakayastha.
Ms. Swachchatowa, along with the wife of Partha Biswas, met Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday and urged him to ensure the safe return of their husbands.
