By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 14, 2015 :

Maoists in have once again stunned the Odisha police by abducting seven villagers from Kartanpalli village on the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border under Mathili police limits in Malkangiri district late on Monday night. The abducted persons include former chairperson of Mathili block Trinath Bumia.

The abduction comes close on the heels of the Odisha police claiming rare success in taming the Red rebels. Only last week, the police took pride in the fact that top IPS officers of nine states affected by left-wing extremism (LWE) took lessons on tackling the Maoists from it,

According to villagers, about 10-12 rebels came to the village late in the night and took seven persons with them saying they had urgent discussions with them. Before leaving the place, they assured the villagers that they would release the abducted persons by 9 am on Tuesday.

However, there were no reports on the whereabouts of the abducted persons till the evening.

Sources said the Hindi-speaking rebels were from the neighbouring Chhattisgarh state.

Interestingly, a BSF camp is located very close to Kartanpalli village.

State director general of police (DGP) Sanjeev Marik said search operation had been launched in the area to rescue the abducted villagers.

“We are aware of the incident. The police are taking all possible measures for safe release of the villagers,” Mr Marik said.