Chhattisgarh collector's in-laws spend sleepless nights

As their daughter puts up a stoic face in Chhattisgarh, the family of Asha Paul Menon - wife of abducted Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon - is spending sleepless nights here.

Asha is busy meeting ministers, senior officials and the media while praying for her husband's safe return. In Chennai, her family members are worried about the safety of Menon, who is asthmatic.

"We are all worried about his safety," T.K. Venugopal, Menon's father-in-law, told IANS.

Hailing from Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, around 650 km from here, 32-year-old Menon is the son of a retired school headmaster A. Vardhas. The 2006 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer was kidnapped at gunpoint by Maoists in Chhattisgarh Saturday and there is still no news of him.

Asha and Menon who married only a couple of months back are expecting their first child.