Ranchi/Jamshedpur: Accepting a key demand
of Maoists for safe release of an abducted Jharkhand Block
Development Officer, Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren
tonight said the legal process has begun to free some of the
jailed persons who the Naxals claimed to be innocent.
"Maoists have set some conditions to set free
Dalbhumgarh BDO Prasant Kumar Layek. Their chief demand is to
release innocent villagers now lodged in Dalbhumgarh jail. All
the cases are pending in the court. The legal process to
release them has already begun," Soren read out from a written
statement at a news conference here.
"So, I appeal to them (Maoists) to set free our
officer unharmed at the earliest," he said.
Maoists, who kidnapped Layek on Saturday, had earlier
in the day demanded a statement from chief minister on their
conditions to set the BDO free.
The extremists had yesterday said that they will release
Layek if the state government give in writing regarding
fulfilment of their demands including unconditional release of
14 of their men arrested by police. The Maoists had alleged
that all the 14 were implicated in false cases by police.
In Jamshedpur, Jharkhand police admitted two of the 14
chargesheeted Maoists were innocent and falsely implicated.
Earlier, giving time and space to Maoists to release the
BDO, Jharkhand government today put on hold the ongoing search
operation, a senior official said here today.
"We have not stopped the search operation but put it on
hold today to allow enough space to the Maoists for the safe
release of Layek", East Singhbhum deputy commissioner Ravindra
Agarwal said.
Zonal IG Rezi Dung Dung told a news conference at
Ghatsila that "after interrogating about 10-12 arrested
persons in Ghatsila sub-divisional jail today, two persons --
Jasmi Mardi and her father Bahadur Mardi -- were found
innocent. They had been falsely implicated by Jasmi's husband
Ramrai Hembram, a police constable".
Dung Dung said he had met 10-12 chargesheeted Maoists and
about four to five cases, including Mardis', were needed to be
re-investigated.
The case of the Mardis was clearly intentional and
negligence on the part of police, he said.
After receiving directive from the Home department, the
police moved the court praying to allow reinvestigation
against Ashwini Murmu, Lusa Baske, Arjun Soren and Sukra
Munda.
Earlier, Maoists said "the state government is only
wasting time and wanted to release the BDO by continuing the
commando operation. The operation will only endanger the life
of the BDO".
Rakeshji, the spokesman of Bengal-Jharkhand-Orissa Border
Regional Committee of CPI (Maoist) told PTI over telephone
that "if the government fulfils the demands, we will release
Layek immediately".
PTI
First Published: Thursday, February 18, 2010, 00:20