Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh on Thursday evening announced the constitution of the high-power standing committee to review cases of all undertrials, including Naxals, exactly an hour after Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon was released by Maoists in Tadmetla forest in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district.
“As per the promise I made to the Maoist mediators — social activist B.D. Sharma and academician Prof. Hargopal — the standing committee came into being within an hour of the collector’s release,” Dr Singh told reporters at his official residence here on Thursday evening.
The chief minister said he talked to Mr Menon exactly at 6.17 pm, the moment he was released from Maoist custody. The standing committee headed by former Madhya Pradesh chief secretary Nirmala Buch came into existence at 7.17 pm.
He said he had advised the collector to take rest at Chintalnar CRPF base camp in the night and proceed to his official residence at Sukma on Friday morning.
Dr Singh, however, parried questions on the development earlier in the day in which a hardcore Naxal Meena Choudhury, an undertial facing charge of building urban network of Maoists, moved bail application in a local court here.
“We will not go beyond the agreement reached between mediators from the government and the Naxals to secure Mr Menon’s release. The deal was struck in a transparent manner and there is nothing to hide,” he remarked.