A Special Armed Force soldier was found dead in Madhya Pradesh’s Chitrakoot forest on Sunday, PTI reported. Sachin Sharma was part of a search team deployed to comb the dacoit stronghold in Satna district.

Inspector General (Rewa Range) Umesh Joga said Sharma’s body was found in the Batohi area of the forest. The team were combing the area after receiving information that dacoits were hiding in the forest.

“After the search operation, the condition of three jawans, including Sharma, deteriorated due to thirst as conditions were humid,” Joga said. “The remaining team members left the three under a tree to fetch water and reached Bagdhara Post.”

Two of the three soldiers also walked to the post leaving Sharma behind. “Police teams fanned out in the area but could not find him for two days,” Joga said.

The police are awaiting the postmortem report to ascertain the cause of his death.