The 13-day hostage crises in Chhattisgarh ended in a spectacular fashion Thursday evening with Naxalites finally releasing the abducted District Collector of Sukma Alex Paul Menon after a flurry of activities that continued through out the day.
“I am tired and shattered,” Menon said soon after he walked out of Talmetla forests at around 6.30 pm. He was accompanied by Naxalites mediators Professor Hargopal and B D Sharma besides scores of media persons. Menon said he was well but was not in a position to talk to media in details.
After reaching an agreement with the government through the mediators, Naxalites had announced to release the 2006-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) official on May 3. The 32-year-old official was abducted by Naxalites on April 21 from Manjipara village where he was attending a government programme.
The sequence of event started in the morning at around 7 am when Prof Hargopal and Sharma flew to Sukma to facilitate the safe release of Menon. On the request of Sharma, Manish Junjam accompanied them from Sukma.
The team reached Talmetla in the afternoon while the media persons were stopped near Chintalnaar.
The trio then moved inside the forests escorted by the lower ranks of the red army. Once the team entered the forests, rumour of Menon’s release started circulating. The first report came in that said Menon would be released at around 3.30 pm. The administration also started preparation accordingly.
A chopper from Jagdalpur flew to Chintalnaar to accompany the District Collector. As the time passed, there was no trace of Menon. By evening, tension prevailed when chopper flew back to Jagdalpur. In the meantime, celebration started in Sukma and home town of Menon in Chennai despite the fact that there was no report of his release.
At one time, it appeared that Naxalites were not clear to release Menon on Thursday. The authorities were also in a fix as evacuating the District Collector from the forests after dusk would be a difficult task.
As suspense over Menon’s release continued, Naxalites invited waiting journalists to Talmetla from where they were taken inside the forests.
According to media persons, the Naxalites handed over Menon to the mediators in presence of journalists. “No top Naxal leaders were present on the occasion and it was only the village-level cadre that completed the formalities,” Naresh Mishra said.
The District Collector came out of forests and boarded his official vehicle with Prof Hargopal and Sharma.
The vehicle straight away drove to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Chintalnaar where he would be staying in the night.While the activities were confined to the forests of Talmetla, a major development was taking shape in the state capital here.
The process of applying bail plea for two women hardcore Naxalites started in the session court here.
“We had applied bail for Meena Chowdhary while probably the bail application for Malti would be filed tomorrow,” Shadiq Ali, advocate for both the Naxalites, told Business Standard. Since the family members of Malti did not come from Andhra, her bail plea could not be moved on Thursday, he added.
The two were in the list of eight hardcore rebels whom Naxalites wanted to be released in exchange of Menon. The state government however rejected the demand of their release and accepted rebels’ only one demand of setting up committee to review the cases against tribals.
The state government minutes after Menon’s release issued the notification to set up high power committee to review the cases.
A government communication said that Menon officially informed the Chief Minister Raman Singh about his release at around 6.55 pm and the government issued the notification at 7 pm.
