JOIN USFreed Italian baffled over his abduction
Italian tourist Claudio Colangelo released from captivity on Saturday-Sunday night said he has ‘no idea’ why the Maoists abducted him and fellow-Italian Paolo Bosusco on March 14.
Bosusco is still in captivity, while another abducted person, legislator Jina Hikaka is in the extremists’ custody. Colangelo told reporters on Sunday at Soroda in Ganjam, next to Kandhamal district where the Italians were abducted, that he was frightened but the captors “were very very kind to us.”
The Italian’s release has brought great relief for the Odisha government. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has already appealed to the Maoists to set Paolo free as early as possible.
Colangelo was released inside the deep jungles of Odisha’s Kandhamal district late on Saturday night. The Rome-based researcher said: “I would like to visit India again because I love the country and its people. But I may not be that foolish to visit a naxal-hit area again.”
Long walk
The Italian was handed over to a group of three television journalists. The group reached Daringibadi in Kandhamal district on Sunday morning after walking for almost nine hours, and subsequently travelled to Soroda.
The Ganjam police got Colangelo medically examined. He was found to be healthy.
Colangelo hoped that Paolo would be released very shortly. Both of them were on a trekking expedition when Maoists in Kandhamal district kidnapped them.
Sources close to Maoists said the extremists had decided to release the second Italian hostage too. “I will not be surprised if Paolo is also released within the next few days,” a reliable source close to Maoists said.
Chief Minister Patnaik told reporters here that he had appealed to the Maoists for the release of abducted Jhina Hikika, the young tribal Biju Janata Dal MLA from Laxmipur, in the tribal-dominated Koraput district late on Friday night.
“The young tribal MLA from Laxmipur was hugely popular and was working extremely hard for the development of the poor tribals,” he said. The Koraput Maoists should come forward for a dialogue with the Odisha government, the chief minister said.