As security forces intensify operations to dismantle Left-wing extremism across the country, Jharkhand recently witnessed one of the largest mass surrenders of Maoist cadres in the State’s history. However, for the family of missing CRPF constable Badal Murmu, every such surrender has brought a fragile sense of hope — the possibility that someone may finally reveal what happened to him.
Yet, nearly three years after his disappearance, that hope is steadily diminishing.
Badal Murmu, a constable with the CRPF’s 197 Battalion and a recipient of the President’s Gallantry Medal, went missing in January 2023 while on duty in the Saranda forests of West Singhbhum district.
Intelligence inputs and local accounts later suggested that he had been abducted by cadres loyal to top Maoist leader Misir Besra, believed to be among the last active members of the banned CPI (Maoist) Politburo.
“For three years, after every surrender, I waited for good news. But nothing has happened,” said his wife, Jhano Murmu. Despite writing repeatedly to the President of India and personally meeting the Union Home Minister in 2024, she claims there has been little progress in efforts to locate him.
Police officials in Jharkhand maintain that operations to trace Badal will continue as long as there is a possibility that he is alive.
Originally from Saraikela-Kharsawan district, Badal was posted at the Kiriburu camp when he disappeared during an official inspection assignment in the Tumbahaka area of the Saranda forest.
A day before he went missing, he had informed his wife that he would soon return home for Makar Sankranti leave.
When repeated calls to his phone went unanswered the following day, concern quickly turned into panic. Soon after, fellow CRPF personnel informed the family that he was untraceable. Villagers later reportedly told the family they had seen him in Maoist custody.
Coming from the Santal community, Badal had long aspired to serve the nation. A talented athlete, he joined the CRPF in 2010 and served in several conflict-hit regions, including Srinagar, Manipur, and Chhattisgarh.
In 2017, he suffered a leg injury in an IED blast during an anti-Maoist operation in Bastar. Four years later, he was honoured with a gallantry award for bravery during a major operation near the Bijapur-Sukma border.
His elder brother Mangovind Murmu, a BSF constable, says the family continues to receive unverified reports that Badal is alive and moving with Maoist squads, though allegedly unarmed.
According to him, Maoists may be attempting to indoctrinate him while remaining suspicious of his loyalties.
Back in their village, Jhano lives with their six-year-old son in severe financial distress. Exhausted by years of uncertainty, she has appealed not only to the government but also directly to Misir Besra to release her husband.
“I do not want him to die in a crossfire. Even if he has to leave the force, I just want my family back,” she said.
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