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.
Mr Krishna was expected to arrive at his office by late Tuesday night, the local police said. Meanwhile, preliminary reports coming from Chitrokonda said that he was down with diarrhoea.
The hostages were released after three days of talks between the three interlocutors — Prof. G. Hargopal, Prof. R. Someswar Rao and Dandapani Mohanty. Both officials have been in captivity for the past one week.
Reports from Malkangiri earlier said that the rebels had already handed over the collector and the junior engineer to four local gram panchayat representatives. District officials with medical teams were sent to the Chitrokonda region to receive the freed officials.
The announcement on the hostages’ release came after the state government, which had accepted eight of the Maoists’ demands on Monday, conceded the remaining six demands on Tuesday.
On the Maoist rebels’ ninth demand on a missing tribal named Sittana Hikoka from Narayanpatna block in Koraput district after his arrest by the police, state home secretary Upendra Nath Behera said: “He is staying outside the area. The police has not received any complaints from his family about his arrest. Nevertheless, there will be an administrative probe into the matter.”
On the 10th demand, on compensation for farmers of the submerged area for the Balimela reservoir, Mr Behera pledged that there would not be any more submergence and whoever had not yet received compensation would be taken care of. On the 11th demand for justice to land losers due to the Nalco project, Mr Behera said the issue would be addressed by the district collector.
Mr Behera also clarified that there will be no movement by the security forces n Turn to Page 3
as long as the Maoists do not involve in unlawful activities. The Maoists had put as their 12th condition that the security forces would not enter the area.
On the 13th demand, for withdrawal of cases against tribals and Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh activists languishing in Koraput and Malkanigiri jails, the home secretary said 9,103 cases had recently been dropped against tribals. “The state government will review all the pending cases against tribals held on charges of Maoist activities in Narayanpatna within 15 days, and the process will be completed in three months,” Mr Behera said.
On the final demand, for the release of Maoist central committee members Ashutosh Sen and others, including hardcore Maoist Sriramulu Srinivas, Gananath Patra, Tapan Mishra, Ghanti Prasad Rao alias Prasadam, Ishwari, Saritha and truck driver Kuldipia, Mr Behera said: “The government will take steps for the withdrawal of cases following the due process of law.”
Earlier, before discussions with state officials, the three interlocutors went to Jharpara jail and consulted Maoist leader Ganti Prasad for over two and a half hours. In the post-lunch session, the mediators again met Ganti Prasad in the jail and apprised him of the day’s outcome.
The Malkangiri fast-track court earlier on Tuesday granted bail to Sriramulu Srinivas, whose release was demanded by the rebels. Fast-track judge P.K. Karna granted bail to Srinivas in a case involving criminal conspiracy and sedition charges on a bond of `25,000 and a surety of equal amount.
He was the first Naxalite to be granted bail among those whose release was demanded by the captors of Mr Krishna and Mr Majhi. But he will remain in jail for now due to another case, his lawyer R.P. Patnaik said.
The bail petition of Ganti Prasad, who was arrested on November 13, 2010, will be heard in the Orissa high court on Wednesday. On Tuesday he was shifted to the high-security Jharpara jail here from Koraput to join the talks process with the interlocutors.