Bihar official untraced day after abduction

PATNA - A Bihar government official remained untraced Monday, a day after he had been abducted by armed Maoist guerrillas, police said.

Manoj Kumar Singh, the block development officer of Tariyani in Sheohar district, about 250 km from here, was kidnapped from Tariyani Chhapra village Sunday. He had gone to the village to enquire about voters’ identity cards for the upcoming assembly elections.

Bihar police chief Neelmani said efforts were on to rescue him. “We are working on a strategy to rescue the abducted officer soon,” he said.

“Search operations are being carried out in the area,” another police official added.