Bhairahawa, January 7:

The Maoists today abducted chairman of the Tharu Welfare Assembly (TWA), Rupandehi, Ashta Bhuja Chaudhari, from Khairiya in Tikuligadh VDC-1, an eyewitness said.

According to Keshav Chaudhari, a group of five Maoists, who came on motorcycles, abducted 70-year-old Chaudhari while he was conducting a meeting about Maghi festival. Chaudhari is also a former central vice chairman of TWA. He was taken on the motorcycle with registration number Lu 1 Pa 9884. In a press statement today, TWA condemned the abduction and urged human rights organisations to take initiatives for Chaudhari’s safe release.

Meanwhile, our correspondent from Phidim said the cadres of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) abducted one Armed Police Force (APF) head constable, Rajendra Lawati, from Ranke Bazaar in the border between Panchthar and Ilam districts and took him towards an unknown location. Thirty-two-year-old Rajendra, a permanent resident of Chok Magu-9 in Panchthar, was on his way home on leave. He was on duty in Armed Police Force Main Office, Halchok.

He was abducted by a group of armed Maoists from a bus bound for Taplejung from Birtamod, said a traveller of the same bus in the district headquarters. Tek Bahadur Singh, colonel of the Royal Nepalese Army’s Phidim-based Batuk Dal Battalion confirmed the abduction.