Maoists send demands for release of abducted Chhattisgarh cops

RAIPUR - Maoists Tuesday finally sent a list of demands to authorities in Chhattisgarh to release five policemen they had abducted Jan 25 in the state’s Narayanpur district.

“I heard that Maoists have sent a list of 11 demands from their forested location late Tuesday in exchange of the abducted cops’ release… we are trying to get the details of the demands,” Superintendent of Police (Narayanpur district) Mayank Srivastava told IANS over phone.

Armed Maoists stormed a passenger bus Jan 25 in an interior location in the district, which is in the restive Bastar region, and abducted five personnel of the Chhattisgarh Armed Forces (CAF) besides a civilian. The rebels of the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) had released the civilian Monday but kept the security personnel in their captivity.

The policemen, who were unarmed and not in police uniform, were en-route to district headquarters Narayanpur town from their posting in an interior area after being granted leave.

Officials at the police headquarters here say that the Maoists have probably kept the abducted people at their hideouts at Abujhmad in Narayanpur where police can’t even think of entering as it is protected by multiple layers of landmines.

Abujhmad is one of India’s most densely forested areas where some policemen say even the sun’s rays barely tough the ground.