Midnapore, Sept. 8: Police are combing the forests near Jhargram for the three youths who have been missing since Monday.

The police said Alok Bera, Parthasarathi Maity and Alok Sit, all residents of Jamboni, could have been kidnapped by Maoists.

While Chiapara residents Bera and Maity are agents of a finance company, Sit repairs watches and has a shop in neighbouring Chichira village. Chiapara and Chichira are close to the Jharkhand border.

A police officer said the three friends — aged between 28 and 30 — had left on a motorcycle around 12pm on Monday to visit the office of the finance company in Jhargram town.

Sit’s wife Nupur, 25, said: “My husband’s cellphone is switched off since 12.30pm on Monday. Initially, I thought he had deliberately switched off his phone. But when he did not return even in the evening, I became worried.”

“I have a one-and-a-half- year-old daughter. If my husband has been kidnapped, I request the captors to set him free,” she added.

Bera’s elder brother Ashok said the trio had “no connection with politics”.

Praveen Tripathi, the Jhargram superintendent of police, said: “We are combing the forests in Pukuria, Panchami and Kalaboni. The trio would have had to pass through the forests to reach Jhargram.”