Govt hopes hostage crisis in C'garh will end soon

The government is also making arrangement to send medicines to Menon, an asthma patient and whose health condition has been described by his Maoist abductors as "critical".

"I hope so," Union Home Secretary R K Singh said when asked whether he thought the hostage crisis will come to an end soon with the appointment of two mediators by the Chhattisgarh government.

Former chief secretaries of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh -- Nirmala Buch and S K Mishra -- have been deputed by the state government for talks with the Maoists who abducted the 32-year-old 2006 batch IAS officer on Saturday.

Singh said medicines were being sent to Menon as he needed to take them regularly being an asthma patient.

"Medicines are being sent. There is somebody who will take the medicines across to the Collector," he said.

In a statement last night, the Maoists had termed Menon's health as critical and asked the mediators to bring medicines along with them.

The Maoists had named Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan, former National SC/ST Commission chairperson B D Sharma and president of All India Adivasi Mahasabha Manish Kunjam as their mediators to hold talks with the government. However, Bhushan and Kunjam have declined to mediate on behalf of the Maoists. PTI ACB NES