By IANS,
Ranchi : The Jharkhand police were Wednesday searching for district official Nirmal Toppo, who was kidnapped by suspected Maoists Tuesday evening and is the third government functionary to be abducted in the last two months.
Toppo, circle officer of the Keredari block of Hazaribagh district, was kidnapped Tuesday evening while he was returning to the district headquarters. Police said Toppo’s car was stopped by armed rebels near Patra bridge of Hazaribagh, around 130 km from here. The driver of the car was later freed by the rebels.
On Oct 5, the beheaded body of police inspector Francis Induwar was found on the Ranchi-Jamshedpur national highway, six days after he was abducted by activists of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist).
Officials said he was abducted by Kundan Pahan group of the CPI-Maoist.
Before that, on Sep 1, Maoist rebels from the Peoples Liberation Front of India (PLFI) had abducted Alok Kumar, a circle officer of Palamau district. He was rescued on the night of Sep 2.
“Maoist rebels have no ethics and no principles and are indulging in such activities for propaganda,” said T.P. Sinha, advisor to the governor, who is in charge of the home department.