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Collector’s abduction: Maoists want eight
cadres freed
Sunday April 22, 2012 11:27:11 PM,
IANS
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Raipur: The Maoist
abductors of a Chhattisgarh district collector Sunday demanded the
release of their eight jailed associates and a halt on security
forces’ action against the rebels by April 25 in exchange for
freeing the hostage, while police remained “totally clueless”
about his whereabouts, an official said.
If the state government wanted the safe release of the district
collector it should halt the anti-Maoist operation “Green Hunt”,
said a communication from the rebels setting the three-day
deadline to fulfil their two demands.
Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon, 32, a 2006 batch Indian
Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was taken at gunpoint by
rebels from a forested location when he was interacting with
tribals. The Maoists killed his two guards.
Meanwhile, Sukma, one of the worst Maoist-insurgency hit districts
in India, observed a shutdown Sunday in protest against Menon’s
abduction.
The Maoists’ demands for Menon’s release were conveyed Sunday
evening to media persons. Reporters received calls on their mobile
phones on which a recorded message was played from the caller’s
end.
“Our demands include immediate abandoning of operation ‘Green
Hunt’, release of people jailed in Raipur and Dantewada on false
charges, return of security personnel to the barracks and the
release of eight cadres in jail,” said the anonymous taped
message.
The rebels demanded the release of associates including Marakam
Gopannam, Nirmal Akka, Devpal Chandra Shekher Reddy, Shanti Priya
Reddy, Meena Chowdhary, Korasa Sunny, Markan Sunny and Asit Kumar
Sen.
An officer at the police headquarters here told IANS: “We combed
certain parts of the forests which are Maoist strongholds and
areas adjoining Andhra Pradesh border Sunday to rescue the
abducted 32-year-old collector but we are totally clueless. We
have no idea at which part of their hideouts the rebels have kept
him hostage.”
Despite an intense search operation to nab the abductors “no clue
whatsoever was found about Menon”. This the first abduction of any
IAS officer in the mineral-rich state since the Maoist insurgency
broke out in the late 1980s.
The Maoists clad in tribal outfits abducted Menon in full public
view, killing his two guards when they attempted to resist.
Menon, who hails from Tamil Nadu, was taken hostage from a
forested area Manjhipara, around 500 km south of Raipur.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, who has been heading a
Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state since December
2003, and the opposition Congress have appealed to the Maoists to
release the district collector immediately.
Menon’s wife Asha also made a fresh appeal Sunday to the Maoists
through local news channels to release her husband as he was
suffering from asthma and not carrying his medicines with him.
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