Naxalites have abducted the parents of a policeman in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Dantewada district, police said on Tuesday. A police source voiced fears that they may have been killed.

The Maoists barged into the house of District Reserve Guard (DRG) constable Ajay Telam in Gumiyapal village on Monday night and  abducted his father Lachhu Telam (64) and mother Vijjo Telam (62), Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava said.

They thrashed the        constable's sister and snatched her mobile phone before escaping, he said.

The constable, who was last year recruited into the DRG, the anti-Naxalite force of the state police, was not in the house as he stays in his unit's camp in Dantewada, Pallava said.

The officer said Naxalites seemed to be frustrated after the district police last month launched the 'Lon Varratu' campaign under which posters and banners of the Maoists who carry cash rewards on their heads are being put up in their native villages.

The posters appeal to the rebels to join the mainstream.

As part of the drive, the police recently put up posters of some Naxalites in Gumiyapal village following which 15 to 20 ultras tried to contact the police to surrender, the official said.

"Some Naxalites who did not want this to happen suspected that Ajay Telam was behind the move and therefore targeted his family," Pallava said.

A search was on for the constable's parents and the police were trying to take the help of locals to secure their release, he said.

A police source, however, said it is possible the Naxalites may have killed the parents. "But there is no official confirmation about this," the source said.

Pallava said the incident shows the desperation of the Naxalites who he claimed are losing support base in Bastar region, their original and long-standing hub. They are targeting family members of the police personnel out of frustration, he said.

Last week, Naxalites killed a policeman's brother-in-law in Hiroli village in Dantewada, Pallava said.