Maoists set free abducted BDO

Govt’s assurance does wonders

Vijay Deo Jha / Parvinder Bhat | Gurabandha


FRONT PAGE| NATIONAL| Saturday, February 20, 2010



Shibu Soren wisely opted not to play the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya when it came to accepting the demand of the CPI(Maoist) for a swap.

Seven days of agony of the Layak family ended on a sweet note. Abducted BDO Prashant Kumar Layak was released by the Naxalites on Friday evening under Gurabandha police station in East Singhbhum district.

The Naxalites released him at village Hariyan under Dumaria block of East Singhbhum district in the presence of some mediapersons. Layak was later picked up by the cops and brought to police picket at Ghuda.

Layak, the Dhalbhumgarh BDO, was abducted by the cadre of the CPI(Maoist) on February 13 from his office. The Maoists had demanded the release of 14 Maoist undertrials.

Accordingly, Chief Minister Shibu Soren had held a Press conference a few days back and assured the release of all these people from the jail provided they were innocent. The police on Wednesday moved Ghatsila Court requesting reinvestigation of the cases of these undertrials.

The court agreed to grant permission for reinvestigation of the nine undertrials out of 14, namely Ashwini Murmu, Luso Baske, Arjun Soren, Sukhram Munda, Kafra Mardi, Basanti Patar, Suraj Murmu, Jasmine Mardi and Bahadur Mardi. The police are reported to have released the father of Kanhu Munda, a Naxalite.

“We have released Prashant Kumar Layak from our custody. We had put some demands before the Government, including the release of innocent people who were caught by the State mercenary, read police. The State Government must stop atrocities on the people in the name of Operation Green Hunt…we will act tough if the State Government tries to play some trick once again,” spokesperson of the CPI (Maoist) Rakeshji said over telephone.

The police claimed that the Maoist set free the BDO under intense pressure of the police and the villagers. “It resulted due to the collective effort of the police. We recovered three motorbikes used by the Maoists to abduct Layak and arrested some key suspects…the Maoists were really under intense pressure as the police came close to them,” Navin Kumar Singh, SP Jamshedpur told mediapersons.

But he accepted that State Government’s initiative and the assurance of justice to the people played well. The candid acceptance of Zonal IG Razi Dungdung that police have committed excesses in some of the cases, further paved the way for negotiations.

The Maoists who had insisted on not less than swapping and even threatened to kill the BDO if the demand was not met by Wednesday last finally accepted the contention of the State Government to follow the legal procedure after Soren had amply made it clear.

Well-placed sources in the Government said the Union Home Ministry gave consent for Soren’s offer for swapping of innocent villagers and minors. But it cautioned the State Government to tread cautiously unlike West Bengal Government.

“Under the deal clinched both at official and unofficial level with the Maoists,” sources said, “the State Government has given assurance that the police will keep restraint in the coming days.