The Border Security Force (BSF), with the help of Malda district police, on Sunday traced one of its jawans who had been missing for almost nine hours since Saturday night with a firearm and 40-odd rounds of ammunition.
Police could locate Akhilesh Kumar, the jawan who serves in 159 battalion of the BSF, by tracking his cellphone.
Sources said Kumar, who is from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, is posted on the India-Bangladesh border in the Habibpur police station area of Malda.
On Saturday, around 10pm, he was supposed to join his duty in the Agra-Harishchandrapur area. Before that, he collected an Insas rifle and two magazines with live cartridges. But after moving out of the border camp with the firearm and the ammunition, he didn’t report on duty, officers said.
BSF officers started a search in and around the border outpost area. After some time, they approached Habibpur police station.
Habibpur police shared Kumar’s details with other police stations and started tracking the location of his cell phone.
“Soon, the location of his cellphone was tracked down near Malda Town station. It seemed he was trying to board a train to leave the district and head home or for some other place. We passed an alert and teams started moving towards the station,” said a police officer.
After some time, the police discovered from his cellphone location that he was moving away from the station.
“Our men constantly monitored his location. Early on Sunday, his phone location showed Mangalbari area of Old Malda,” the officer said.
“Eventually, he was found resting in a shanty where casual workers of an LPG bottling plant rest,” said the officer.
