The deadline set by the Maoists for the government to concede their demands in exchange of freedom of the abducted Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon, held hostage by them since April 21, expired on Wednesday evening even as his kin and the state administration waited anxiously to know about his well-being.
Although top level police officers here remained tight-lipped, refusing to share any information with media on the abducted collector, unconfirmed reports reaching from the ground zero said a jan adalat (people’s court) was held by Maoists on Wednesday evening at hill side village of Nagaram under Ganguda in Sukma district to decide his fate and if the deadline could be extended.
“We are waiting for return of Manish Kunjam, who had set out for Tadmetla in Dantewada district on Tuesday to deliver the medicine kits for the ailing district magistrate, a asthma patient. We have information that he was returning after meeting top Naxal leaders at an undisclosed place in Chintagufa area in Dantewada district late on Tuesday night. He was expected at Sukma late on Wednesday evening. Till then, we will not be able to say anything,” a senior police officer told this newspaper here.
The DM’s wife, Asha Menon, also waited with bated breath to hear a few words from Mr Kunjam about her husband’s well-being in Maoist custody when he returns to Sukma, sources close to her said.
Meanwhile, uncertain prevailed over when and where parleys between mediators of Maoists and Chhattisgarh government will be held.
While Maoist-appointed interlocutors, B.D. Sharma and Hyderabad-based emeritus professor G. Hargopal, who came into scene late on Tuesday night, are scheduled to arrive at Raipur on Thursday, the state government-sponsored mediators — retired bureaucrats S.K. Mishra and Nirmala Buch began confabulations with chief minister Raman Singh and senior officers here to assess the situation.
“I am hopeful of an early resolution of hostage crisis,” Ms Buch told reporters here on her arrival from Bhopal in the morning.