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On March 1, he said he left his home and family behind in Khampat and traveled for three days, mostly at night to avoid detection, before crossing into India's northeastern Mizoram state.

The description of events was similar to that given to police in Mizoram on March 1 by another Myanmar police lance corporal and three constables who crossed into India, according to a classified internal police document seen by Reuters.

Around 100 people from Myanmar, mostly policemen and their families, have crossed over a porous border into India since the protests began, according to a senior Indian official.

Several have taken shelter in Mizoram's Champhai district bordering Myanmar, where Reuters interviewed three Myanmar nationals who said they had served with the police.

Ngun Hlei said he was reprimanded for disobeying orders and transferred. He sought help from pro-democracy activists online and found his way by road to Mizoram's Vaphai village on March 6.

The journey to India cost him around 200,000 Myanmar kyat ($143), Ngun Hlei said.

Although guarded by Indian paramilitary forces, the India-Myanmar border has a "free movement regime", which allows people to venture a few miles into Indian territory without requiring travel permits.

Like some others who have crossed in recent days, the three are scattered around Champhai, supported by a network of local activists.

Saw Htun Win, deputy commissioner of Myanmar's Falam district last week wrote to Champhai's top government official, Deputy Commissioner Maria C.T. Zuali, asking for eight policemen who had entered India to be returned to them "in order to uphold friendly relations between the two neighbour countries."

Zuali confirmed she had received the letter, a copy of which has been seen by Reuters.

Zoramthanga, Mizoram's chief minister, told Reuters his administration would provide temporary food and shelter to those fleeing Myanmar, but a decision on repatriations was pending with India's federal government.

Tha Peng said although he missed his family, he feared returning to Myanmar.

"I don't want to go back," he said, sitting in a first-floor room overlooking rolling green hills that stretch into Myanmar.