Police intensify search for abducted Chhattisgarh cops

JAGDALPUR - Time was fast running out for four policemen abducted by Maoists in insurgency-hit Chhattisgarh, event though the police intensified searches in the jungles of Bijapur district Monday, a day after the rebels set a 48-hour deadline for their release.

An assistant sub-inspector and three constables are in Maoist captivity since Sep 19. They were among the seven policemen abducted that day from Bhopalpatnam area of Bijapur, over 500 km south of state capital Raipur, close to the Andhra Pradesh border. The rebels had killed three policemen a day later.

Chhattisgarh Police Monday intensified searches in the jungles of restive Bijapur district to rescue the policemen - Assistant Sub-Inspector Sukhram Bhagat, and constables B. Toppo, Narendra Bhosle and Subhash Ratre. As distraught families of the kidnapped men appealed for their release, state Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar said: “Let us hope for some good results, we are considering all aspects.”

Speaking to reporters at Ambikapur in Sarguja district, Kanwar, however, refused to elaborate on his statement, which is seen as an indication that the government might be trying to reach out to Maoists to secure the safe release of the policemen.

On Sunday, the Maoists set a 48-hour deadline for releasing the policemen.

Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Vishwa Ranjan Sunday night said the police had found a few handwritten leaflets from Bhopalpatanam area in which the rebels had stated their demands, including halting the anti-Maoist operations.

He added that police were also trying to verify whether the letter was actually written by the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist).

“The letter has stated demands for scrapping the anti-Maoist drive Green Hunt, releasing a few people of four villages, stopping alleged police atrocities and initiating peace talk,” Ranjan said.

He said the “villagers” whose release the Maoists have demanded were actually village-level cadres of Maoists arrested on charges of involvement in unlawful activities.

Chief Minister Raman Singh has also appealed to the Maoists to release the policemen on humanitarian grounds. The state government said it is in touch with Andhra Pradesh to solve the hostage crisis.

“We are doing our best to track down the Maoists who are moving the abducted policemen from one densely forested location to another between Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. The search in the jungles for rescuing them has been stepped up,” Superintendent of Police (Bijapur) R.N. Das told IANS.

Officials at the police headquarters here said that police plan to use choppers in the Bijapur area in order to get clues to locations where the hostages may have been hidden.

Meanwhile, family members of the abducted policemen have appealed to the Maoists to release them and promised that once released they would quit the police force.