Karwar: “It was absolute darkness. While on one hand, rain deterred us from moving about, the menace of leeches and cries of wild animals left us high and dry. We literally felt that we would not return home. However, it was God’s grace that we are safe..,” said DySP Shankar Marihal.

DySP Marihal who along with the CPI Ravichandran of the Intelligence Department went missing in the jungle while they were engaged in a combing operation heaved a sigh of relief after they were found by the police and forest department officials on Monday.

A team of 12 comprising Marihal, Ravichandran and other officers of various departments like the police, forest and intelligence entered into the Baare forest area on Kaiga Road on Sunday (September 1) morning. However, the team encountered a leopard all of a sudden and it tried to attack them. In a bid to save lives, the team members ran helter-skelter and in the melee, Marihal and Ravichandran got separated from the group. As there was no mobile network connection, they could not contact others and had to spend a night in the jungle.

Superintendent of Police Shivaprakash Devaraju said that their location was traced based on the mobile network at around 6:00 am on Monday and they were rescued.

“It was raining heavily and a stream was flowing by. We were separated to such an extent that our voices could not reach our group even though we shouted at the top of our voices. So, we tried tracing the way back. But soon, darkness gripped the forest and so, we decided to spend our night in the jungle. We then decided to find a safer place to spend the night. We also climbed a tree and sat there for half an hour. But we could not spend more time there. We could not sit down under the tree as there were numerous leeches. We then spotted huge rocks and took shelter there,” explained Marihal.

He said that at that moment, he began recalling his family, staff and his group mates. Ravichandran had recently joined service and he kept providing moral support to him. On Sunday, they had just breakfast in the morning and palav in the afternoon and they had to be hungry till the next day morning. They had no good water to drink though they were thirsty.

Next morning, they climbed the rocks and got mobile network. They then contacted their group and were rescued. “It was literally a rebirth for me,” said Marihal said.