Medicines carried for abducted Collector

Maoist informed Menon critically ill


RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh
government today rushed
medicines for abducted Sukma
District Collector Alex
Paul Menon hours after the
Maoists informed them that
he was critically ill.
The medicines are being
sent through president of
All India Adivasi Mahasabha
Manish Kunjam, one
of the mediators named by
the Maoists for holding negotiations
with the government.
Though Kunjam has
refused to take part in the
mediation process, he has
agreed to take the medicines
to the collector. Last night,
the Maoists had named
three mediators including
lawyer Prashant Bhushan
and Former National SC/ST
Commission chairperson
B D Sharma, for negotiations
after the Chhattisgarh
government offered to hold
talks to free Menon from
the extremists. The Naxals
had said that only the three
persons named by them will
be allowed to negotiate in
Tarimetla village and asked
them to accept the invitation
to act as mediators.
Kunjam, who had declined
the Maoists’ offer yesterday
citing regional circumstances
and party obligations, today
said that following the
state government’s request,
he was ready to take medicines
for the 32-year-old
IAS offi cer, who is an asthma
patient. “Menon’s life is
supreme. I will be going to
Sukma soon to take the medicines
and then proceed to
Tarimetla. Thereafter, I will
come back,” he said. Chief
Minister Raman Singh’s
Chief Secretary N Brijendra
Kumar today said that few
mediapersons from Naxalhit
Bastar region have also
offered to take medicines for
Menon, and the state government
has decided to give
them permission for the
same, provided they keep
a distance from police, lest
it may prove detrimental to
the offi cer’s safety.
A worried Asha, Menon’s
wife, has also appealed to
Maoists to send an audio/
video tape of her husband,
so that she can gauge his
condition. She asked them
to provide immediate medical
relief to him in view of
his critical state.