RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh
government has virtually
called a halt to its anti-
Maoist offensive till Sukma
District Collector Alex Paul
Menon is released from captivity,
offi cial sources said
today.
“The whole focus is now
to secure the safe and early
release of Alex Paul Menon.
The anti-Maoist operation
issue can follow later on,” a
senior offi cial at the police
headquarters here told media.
The Maoists have demanded
freeze on Operation
Green Hunt against them
and the release of eight of
their jailed colleagues in
exchange for Menon, whom
they took hostage Saturday.
Menon, 32, a 2006 batch
Indian Administrative Service
(IAS) offi cer, was kidnapped
at gunpoint from a
forested location, some 500
km south from here, when
he was interacting with tribals.
The Maoists killed his
two guards when they resisted
his abduction. “The
state government is considering
the Maoists’ demands
very sympathetically but it
will take a fi nal call on the
matter taking the central
government and the state’s
political parties into total
confi dence,” sources in the
home department said.
The state government has
also formed a fi ve-member
team headed by Chief Minister
Raman Singh to look
into Maoists’ demands. The
team includes Public Works
Department Minister Brijmohan
Agrawal, Water Resources
Minister Ramvichar
Netam, Home Minister Nankiram
Kanwar and Tribal
Welfare Minister Kedar
Kashyap. Maoists late Sunday
said in a message taped
anonymously that Chhattisgarh’s
Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) regime must free
their colleagues - Marakam
Gopannam, Nirmal Akka,
Devpal Chandra Shekher
Reddy, Shanti Priya Reddy,
Meena Chowdhary, Korasa
Sunny, Markan Sunny and
Asit Kumar Sen - by April
25 in exchange for the kidnapped
district collector.
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