Bijapur: Maoists have abducted an engineer in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Friday morning, police said. The abducted engineer is identified as Ashok Pawar, an employee of a private construction company tendered to build a bridge. The incident took place near the Indravati river, under the Bedre Police station area.

Bijapur ASP Pankaj Shukla and his team have been probing the case. According to the information given by the labours, the Maoists disguised as villagers and waited near the river Indravati and kidnapped the engineer.

A similar abduction was reported in November 2021, where Maoists kidnapped PMGSY’s Sub-engineer Ajay Roshan Lakra and Peon Laxman Paratagiri. The engineer was kidnapped in Gorna, Naxal dominated area of the Bijapur district. The engineer was charged to take stock of the road construction work. After several negotiations, the duo was released sources said.

Maoists have been kidnapping and murdering civilians on the suspicion of being police informers. Earlier on Wednesday, a civilian was murdered in Tadmer Village.