Family urges PM to get him back
Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Apr 5: Constable Rakeshwar Singh Manhas, a CoBRA Commando of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) from Jammu has been missing from the site of the Chhattisgarh ambush in which 22 security personnel of the CRPF got martyrdom on Saturday.
Son of the soil, Rakeshwar Singh Manhas was part of the joint offensive of security forces comprising CRPF, its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action), the District Reserve Guard (DRG) and the Special Task Force (STF), comprising 2000 security personnel that launched an anti-Naxal operation from Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur and Sukma districts in the South Bastar forests, considered as the Maoist stronghold, on Friday night.
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When the patrolling team that was dispatched from Tarrem was advancing through forest near Jonaguda, located around 500 km away from Raipur, it was ambushed by cadres of PLGA (Peoples’ Liberation Guerilla Army) battalion of Maoists that led to gun-battle in which 22 security personnel got martyrdom and 31 others injured.
Constable Manhas, who originally belongs to Pangali village of Khour (Akhnoor) in Jammu district and was presently living at Netar Kothen in Barnai area of Jammu, has been missing after the encounter. Though there was no official word on missing of the Jawan but the family members claimed that IBC 24 (a local channel of Chhattisgarh) informed them yesterday morning that Rakeshwar is alive and has been abducted by the Naxals.
Speaking to Excelsior, Vikrant Chib, brother-in-law of the missing jawan said that the whole family is in shock after claims of the IBC 24 that Rakeshwar is in the hostage of Naxals. He said that they have been contacting the CRPF Headquarters continuously on phone after every 15-20 minutes but there is no official word from them. They (CRPF authorities) are just saying that search is on for Rakeshwar, he added.
Meenu Manhas, wife of the missing jawan said that her husband has been serving the country for last more than nine years and participated in several anti-terrorist operations during his posting in Srinagar. “Now it is Government’s turn to fight for its jawan and get him back from the hostage of Naxals,” she said and appealed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to get back her husband just as the Government got released Wing Commander Abhinandan from the captivity of Pakistan.
Rakeshwar Singh Manhas got recruited in CRPF in the year 2011. He is presently posted in CRPF 210 CoBRA Battalion in Chhattisgarh. Around three months back, he was posted in Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir.
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