Abducted Malkangiri collector R. Vineel Krishna and junior engineer Pabitra Mohan Majhi were freed by Maoists Tuesday night after the state government conceded to all their demands. The collector and the junior engineer were on their way to the Malkangiri district headquarters from Chitrogonda, where they were held hostage.

The Orissa government seems to have made up its mind to fulfill all the major demands of the Maoists, including release of seven of the top-ranking Maoist activists lodged in various jails in Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattishgarh, to secure safe release of Malkangiri collector R. Vineel Kumar and junior engineer Pabitra Mohan Majhi who were taken hostages by the rebels on February 16.

The designated interlocutors began talks with top Orissa government officials here Sunday, and both said later that neither the government nor the Maoists would resort to violence while efforts to res

After two days of talks with naxal-chosen mediators, Orissa government on Monday said it was hopeful of an early breakthrough in securing the release of abducted Malkangiri district collector and a junior engineer.

The Orissa government on Saturday stepped up efforts to secure release of young IAS officer R. Vineel Krishna and junior engineer Pabitra Mohan Majhi from Maoist custody, even as the designated interlocutors arrived here in the evening to set in motion the negotiation process to gain their freedom.

With Maoists extending the deadline for Orissa government to meet their demands, efforts for release of Malkangiri district collector R.V. Krishna and a junior engineer through negotiations gained pace on Saturday.

The Orissa government was clueless on Thursday night about the whereabouts of Malkangiri collector R. Vineel Krishna and junior engineer Pabitra Mohan Majhi, abducted by Maoists.

Even as backchannel talks were on Friday to secure the release of Malkangiri district collector and an engineer from Maoist captivity, Orissa has appealed to the rebels to extend their 48-hour deadline that lapses in the evening.

The Budget Session of the Orissa Legislative Assembly, as expected, on Monday began on acrimonious note with the major Opposition party Congress boycotting the governor’s speech protesting the Naveen

Aditya Bora, one of the leading Ulfa figures in Assam who was arrested by the Orissa police on Saturday, was on an `5 lakh contract to train Maoist cadres in Orissa and Jharkhand.