Udupi, December 24: Sadashiva Gowda, a resident of Gundi near Eedu village, who had recently shifted to Kabinale village in Karkala taluk, has gone missing since December 19, even as rumours spread that he may have been abducted by suspected naxalites. However, the police say that Sadashiva Gowda is missing. Superintendent of Police Y.S. Ravi Kumar told The Hindu that the police continued to search for Sadashiva Gowda. He said that Sadashiva Gowda was last seen at Mavinakatte near Kabinale village under the Hebri police station limits, where he purchased some items from a petty shop on Monday. He then left towards the forests near Tengamar village and nobody had seen him since then.
The police had questioned the family of Sadashiva Gowda on his whereabouts, but they too could not help. He had asked the family members to file a (man) missing complaint at the police station on Saturday.
Asked if Sadashiva Gowda had been kidnapped, Mr. Ravi Kumar said: “If somebody has been kidnapped, there has to be some call making demands. This is not the case. Nor has a body been found”
He said that the police had searched all hospitals in Karkala and Hebri towns in Udupi district and Moodabidri town in Dakshina Kannada district. But they had not been able to find Sadashiva Gowda there. The police and the Anti-Naxal Force had intensified combing operations in the forests, he said.
Some journalists in Kundapur town, about 35 kilometres from Udupi, reportedly received a phone call from a suspected naxalite who identified himself as Vishwa saying that Sadashiva Gowda was a “police informer” and that he had been “taught a lesson” by the naxalites. Vishwa spoke from a mobile telephone belonging to Sadashiva Gowda, the journalists said. It was after this “phone call” that rumours about the whereabouts of Sadashiva Gowda spread.
Comments
Add new comment