Chowrangi

Two soldiers from an Indian Army contingent engaged in a joint military exercise with US soldiers in California have gone missing since last week.

Times Of India reports that the hunt for two soldiers, riflemen Sanjay Mahato and Santosh Thapa, was launched by Indian and US Army officials at Camp Pendleton, where the exercise called ‘Shatrujeet’ was being held, after they failed to turn up for the morning parade on March 21.

Rifleman Sanjay Mahato, who has been with the army for seven years, and Rifleman Santosh Thapa, with four years of experience, were part of the 119-strong company based in Camp Pendleton on the US west coast for Exercise Shatrujeet from March 10 to March 20.

“The two soldiers, who are from 1/1 Gorkha Rifles and hail from Nepal, have been declared AWOL (absent without leave). Mahato and Thapa did not take any weapon, ammunition or their passports with them,” said an officer.

“If they do not return after 30 days, they will be declared deserters. They will dismissed from service and face penal action on being arrested. It looks like a case of illegal immigration. After our contingent returned from the US on March 23, a court of inquiry is underway into the episode,” he added.

India is also seeking the assistance of the US state department in tracing the soldiers. The ‘Shatrujeet’ series of exercises is part of the rapidly-expanding Indo-US defence cooperation. and it was in 2005 that an Indian military contingent first went to Camp Pendleton.

This is the second such embarrassing overseas incident for the Army in recent times.

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