The Border Security Force (BSF), with the help of Malda district police, on Sunday traced one of its jawans who went missing from Saturday night for almost nine hours with a firearm and 40-odd rounds of live ammunition.

Police could successfully find out Akhilesh Kumar, the jawan who serves in 159 battalion of the BSF, by tracking his cell phone.

Sources said that Kumar, who is from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, is posted at the India-Bangladesh border in 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 ammunition, he didn’t report on duty.BSF officials 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 cell phone was found near the Malda Town station. It seemed that he is trying to take a train to leave the district and head for home or some other place. We passed an alert and teams started moving towards the station,” said a police officer.

After some time, the police found that Kumar was moving away from the station, courtesy his cell phone location.“Our men constantly monitored his location. Early on Sunday, his phone location showed Mangalbari area of Old Malda,” the officer added.

Malda police station was put on alert. Meanwhile, Kumar switched off his phone and the police could no longer track his location. “We engaged local sources for a comprehensive search. Eventually, he was found resting in a shanty where casual workers of an LPG bottling plant rest,” said the officer. Senior police officers said that they were concerned over the jawan’s disappearance as a number of times BSF personnel have resorted to firing out of frustration or depression or shot themselves.

“He was roaming around with a rifle and live ammunition. It is a major relief that he was intercepted before any untoward incident. We have started a probe,” said Amit Kumar Shaw, Malda additional SP (headquarters). A BSF team took Kumar to Narayanpur, the sector headquarters of the force on the outskirts of Malda town, for interrogation.