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Maoists to release Odisha legislator Thursday, says lawyer
Wednesday April 25, 2012 11:40:18 AM,
IANS
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Bhubaneswar: Maoists
have decided to release Odisha legislator Jhina Hikaka Thursday
after he promised to resign from the assembly if the rebels'
demands were not fulfilled, a lawyer said Wednesday.
Nihar Ranjan Patnaik, who is based in Koraput district and fights
cases for the rebels, told a TV channel that the Maoists will set
Hikaka free by 10 a.m. Thursday. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD)
legislator has been held hostage for over a month.
The Maoists will hand him over to Patnaik and Kaushalya, the wife
of the abducted Biju Janata Dal legislator, in Narayanpatna area
of the district, the lawyer said quoting a Maoist leader.
Patnaik also said the rebels took the decision after the
legislator gave them in writing that he would resign from the
membership of the assembly if the government did not fulfil their
demands.
However, there is still no official confirmation of the
development. No audio tape has been released by the rebels.
The left-wing extremists, who kidnapped 37-year-old Hikaka from
Laxmipur in Koraput March 24, had announced they would hold a
'people's court' Wednesday where his fate would be decided.
"There was no information if they conducted this people's court,"
a senior state home department official told IANS.
He said the legislator should be released unharmed as the
government had already accepted their demand.
The rebels had been demanding the release of 29 prisoners, mostly
members of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS), which works
mainly in the southern parts of the state, including Malkangiri
and Koraput districts, on tribal-related issues.
The state government has agreed to release 25 of them but the
guerrillas rejected the offer and announced that Hikaka's fate
would be decided in a people's court April 25.
The worry of the government had increased after a rebel leader few
days ago said they wanted the authorities to release all members
of CMAS.
The left-wing extremists did not specify how many members of the
organisation have been languishing in state jails; similarly the
government was also reluctant to disclose the figure.
State Home secretary U.N. Behera said the names of 25 people,
including eight Maoists, had been shortlisted by the government
for release.
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