C.Anand, brother of abducted Chhattisgarh IAS officer Alex Paul Menon said the government emissary reached asthma medicines to Menon and told the family that the Maoists’ hostage “is keeping well”.
“We felt relieved hearing that Alex got the medicines. We hope the Maoists will release my brother soon”, Anand told DC in a phone interview on Thursday.
An IT professional working in Bengaluru, Anand is now at Raipur (Sukma district) to provide moral support to Asha, wife of Alex abducted last Saturday.
“Doctors have asked my sister-in-law to rest and not talk much in view of her pregnancy,” Anandh said.
He said Asha was confident that Alex would soon return and help her resume her preparation for the civil services exam.
“She is keen on joining the IAS and work for the downtrodden like her husband. Prayers of people from all over are brightening our hopes”, he added.
In Chennai, Alex’s father Varadhas, expressed distress at the ‘slow pace’ of the government’s effort to get his son released.
“We do not know what they (government) are doing. We are kept in the dark”, said the 69-year-old retired headmaster. He wanted the government to help him reach Raipur to comfort his daughter-in-law.
According to his father, Alex had more faith in the people than on the government security personnel.
“He phoned me last week to share his happiness over chief minister Raman Singh clearing a project to lay roads for 200 kms close in his district, where there are no proper roads,” Varadhas told DC. The doting dad had named his son Alex Paul Menon as he admired emperor Alexander, Pope John Paul and Pandit Nehru’s defence minister Krishna Menon.
In their native Samathanapuram, a tiny village of less than 30 related families, people are spending most of the time either praying or monitoring news on TV channels.
“Alex was here during the Christmas holidays when he exhorted our youth to study well and scale heights.
We are holding a fasting-prayer on Saturday for his release”, said a local, expressing concern that the cold woods of the Moist terrain could aggravate Alex’s asthma.