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.
The rebels had on Wednesday afternoon set a 48-hour ultimatum to free all tribals arrested by the police during anti-Naxal drives and immediately stop combing operations across the state as conditions for the release of the abducted officers.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh and several other political leaders appealed to the Maoists not to harm the officers and release them.
In the first response to the rebels’ demands, the state government on Thursday evening instructed the Orissa police and Central security forces deployed in the state to stop all combing operations in Maoist-infested areas. “Instructions have been issued to security forces to stop combing operations across the state. The state government is open to all kinds of talks with the Maoists,” Orissa home secretary Upendra Nath Behera told reporters at the state secretariat here on Thursday evening.
Mr Krishna went missing on Wednesday evening while returning from a public relations camp in a cut-off area in the Chitrokonda reservoir area of the district. Mr Patnaik, while making a statement in the state Assembly on Thursday, said “suspected Maoists have abducted Mr Krishna along with junior engineer Pabitra Majhi of Kuduluguma block.”
Malkangiri, nearly 750 km from state headquarters, is one of the worst Maoist-hit districts of Orissa.
According to reports, the 31-year-old Mr Krishna, from Chandannagar area in Andhra Pradesh, had gone to attend a Jana Sampark Shibir (public relations camp) at Badapada village under Kudumuluguma block. He was accompanied by District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) project director Balawant Singh, Kuduluguma block junior engineer Pabitra Majhi, another junior engineer, Damodar Suchen, and an employee of Parivartan, a local NGO.
From the Jana Sampark Shibir, the collector, along with Mr Singh, Mr Majhi and the NGO activist, left for Papermetla area on motorcycles to monitor the implementation of the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojna, a rural electrification programme. On the way they were intercepted by a group of around 50 Maoists who took them into the forests. They later released DRDA project director Singh, engineer Suchen and the NGO activist. In a letter sent in the hands of the released officials, the Maoists demanded the release of all tribal cadres from various jails besides stopping combing operations. They set a deadline of 48 hours for the fulfilment of their demands and warned of “serious consequences” if their demands were not met.
“The state government was monitoring the matter and taking all steps to seek the release of the collector and the engineer,” Mr Patnaik said. Chief secretary Bijoy Kumar Patnaik said the state government was examining the demands of the rebels.
“Normally, the collector does not take security measures when he goes to review development and welfare projects. Never before in the district have senior civil officials been targeted by Maoists,” DRDA project director Balwant Singh said.
Meanwhile, the collector’s wife, Chandana Krishna, arrived in Malkangiri from Hyderabad with her three-year-old son. “My husband always feels for development of tribals. He has been working for their welfare for long. I appeal to the Maoists to free him and the junior engineer,” she said.
In another development, social worker Swami Agnivesh offered to mediate between the government and the Maoists to secure the release of the collector. “I appeal to the Maoists not to do any physical harm to Vineel Krishna. He is an honest officer who loves to work for tribals. The Maoists should treat him as a family member,” Swami Agnivesh said. Sources in the state administration said the government welcomed Swami Agnivesh’s gesture and that they were awaiting the Maoists’ response to his offer.