Abducted collector: Fresh Maoist demand complicates situation

Maoists today made a fresh demand for immediate release of five key Naxals to free Malkangiri district collector RV Krishna, complicating the issue and prompting the mediators to appeal for his freedom by tomorrow.
   
While naxal leader Ganti Prasadam was today granted bail by the Orissa High Court, the Naxals demanded that five others including Padma, wife of a top rebel, and Sriramulu Srinivasulu be also freed from jail, official sources said.
   
The condition laid by the abductors was conveyed to Malkangiri district administration in a letter sent through the released junior engineer Pabitra Majhi, who had been abducted along with the collector on February 16 from
Chitrakonda, they said.
   
It seems that the abductors were attemting to make it an exchange like affair, they said.
   
The abductors also expressed their intention to release the collector in public in the presence of the three Maoist-chosen mediators who held talks with Orissa government and project director of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Malkangiri, sources said.
   
Following the new demand, Ganti Prasadam, mediator G Hargopal and Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao made a joint appeal to the Maoists to release the district collector within 24 hours, by tomorrow evening.
   
Stating that the new issue raised by Naxals was beyond the purview of Orissa government, Hargopal said, "We are happy that the junior engineer has been released but additional condition will complicate the issue as yesterday we had already made commitment of release of both the hostages in 48 hours."
   
"We as mediators are surprised. We did not expect additional demand will come up. We appeal to them (abductors) to free the collector in 24 hours, that is tomorrow evening," Hargopal said.
   
He said their appeal was being aired through radio in English and Telugu as Maoists listen to radio regularly.