Twenty-four hours after Maoists abducted Malkangiri collector R Vineel Krishna, Orissa police were clueless on the possible whereabouts of the young officer.
Krishna, of the 2005 batch of the IAS, was abducted along with two junior engineers by a group of three or four armed rebels in the Jantapai area a little over three hours? drive from the district headquarters. The officer and his men were returning after a public contact programme in remote Kudumulgumma block of the Maoist-hit district.
The Maoists later released one of the JEs with a letter demanding an immediate halt to the anti-Naxal Operation Greenhunt, and the freeing, within 48 hours, of their comrades from prison.
District officials said the rebels were holding Krishna and the junior engineer, 22-year-old tribal Pabitra Mohan Majhi, somewhere in the jungle on the Orissa-Andhra border.
The government?s preliminary understanding is the abduction was carried out by Rabi alias Uday of the Maoists? Andhra-Orissa Border Special Zonal Committee, which is active in the four northern coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh ? East Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram and Srikakulam ? and the five southern Orissa districts of Malkangiri, Rayagada, Gajapati, Koraput and Nabrangpur.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik urged the Maoists to release the ?young Collector. who is known for his hard work for the poor and tribals?. Residents of Malkangiri town observed a shutdown and held a massive rally demanding the safe release of the popular officer. In Kandhamal, Ganjam, Raygada and Mayurbhanj, where Krishna had worked in various capacities, people organised rallies and enforced bandhs.
Home secretary UN Behera told The Indian Express that commando action was not being considered to free Krishna and Majhi. ?Any commando action would endanger their lives. We have halted all combing operations, and are open to all channels of discussion… We are ready for a dialogue with the Maoists at the district and state levels.
Behera said he had asked social activist Swami Agnivesh, who recently helped in the release of five securitymen captured by Maoists in Chhattisgarh, to open talks with the rebels. Agnivesh had told The Indian Express this morning that he had appealed to the Maoists to treat Krishna and Majhi with respect and cause them no bodily harm. ?I would also appeal to the Maoists not to be rigid with the 48-hour deadline,? he had said.