Missing poll staff traced; 2 abandoned bikes near polling centre spark panic

MP, Apr 27, 2026, Raiganj : A polling official who went missing from the Distribution-cum-Reception Centre (DCRC) in Islampur has been traced, officials said on Saturday.

The individual, Sufal Murmu, a primary school teacher from Jamalpur in Itahar, had reportedly marked his attendance at the DCRC on Thursday morning before he went missing.

Following a complaint lodged by his family at Itahar Police Station, a search operation was launched.

Acting on local inputs, police located him at the residence of a relative, Shanti Soren, in Mahinagar under Patorajpur gram panchayat.

Murmu claimed he had no recollection of how he reached the location and stated: “After signing at the DCRC, I went to the latrine. I don’t remember how I came to my relative’s house”.

In another development, following the recovery of filled-up Annapurna Scheme forms that lay scattered in the bushes beside the road a few days back near Chhatrapur, the residents of Dhoa Bisua in Raiganj spotted two abandoned motorbikes, sparking panic in the locality.

According to local sources, villagers spotted the motorcycles on Friday night lying unattended in an agricultural field barely 100 metres from the polling station.

The absence of riders and the proximity to a sensitive polling area triggered fears of possible foul play.

One of the bikes reportedly bears a registration number from Bihar, while the other is registered in West Bengal.

Abdul Kalam, a local, said: “We found the two motorcycles abandoned in the field at night. No one was around. We feared that the vehicles might have been used for some criminal activity, so we immediately informed the police.”

A senior officer of Raiganj police station confirmed that an investigation has been initiated to trace the owners and ascertain the reason behind the presence of the motorcycles near the polling site.

The incident has added to unease in the area, especially as villagers claimed that a few days earlier, several filled-up forms of the Annapurna scheme promising Rs 3000 per month, allegedly committed by the Bharatiya Janata Party to women, were found scattered along a roadside near Chhatrapur in Raiganj.

Police officials stated that an investigation is underway to determine the circumstances behind both incidents