Two police officials who went missing in a forest area of Uttara Kannada district on Sunday were found in the Masthikatte forest area near Sunkasala village on Monday morning. The missing officers were identified as Shankar Marihal, Karwar Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), and Ravichandran, an Intelligence Bureau official.
Police and forest department officials traced Shankar and Ravichandran in the dense forests, where they camped overnight after they were separated from other police officials during a combing operation near Bare village that included other officials and began at 9:30 am on Sunday.
The missing police officers were eventually rescued from the dense forests located between Yellapur and Kadra early on Monday morning after three teams were pressed into service to search for them. "They were separated during the combing operation after they spotted a leopard. The area where they went missing is known for the presence of many wild animals so we decided to intensify our search for them this morning," confirmed Gopal Byakoda, Additional SP, who led the search for the police officials.
Gopal confirmed that the missing policemen camped in the forest overnight before they were found unhurt on Monday morning. They were reported missing around 7:30 pm on Sunday evening and search officials managed to establish contact with the duo only at 6:30 am on Monday. Search teams scoured the forest area looking for the missing policemen.
Uttara Kannada SP Shiva Prakash Devaraju refuted reports that suggested that the missing policemen were tracing a mysterious satellite phone call placed from one of the villages. "They were part of a team doing general combing operations when they went missing. In combing operations, police officials familiarise themselves with the terrain and speak to people living in villages. These are in remote areas inside the forests," said Shiva Prakash.
Rain spells also affected the search efforts after the two missing police officeres could not be contacted. Bare is located 15 km away from Kaiga, where a nuclear power generating station is located.