Abducted cop's family meets Buddhadeb

Dutta a prisoner of war: Maoists

“This is an unprecedented situation as the Maoists have declared the officer in charge of the Sakrail police station in West Midnapore as a prisoner of war. This has not taken place in the state before. The state government should take necessary steps to secure his release on a priority basis,” state CPM secretary Biman Bose said.

On Tuesday, the Leftwing adicals attacked the Sankrail police station. They shot dead two police officers before abducting Atindranath Dutta, the officer in charge of the police station. Kishenji, the leader of the Maoists, put tough conditions before the state authorities for the release of the abducted cop. Apart from the release of the tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato, Kishenji sought the release of arrested CPI-Maoist women members, specially those who have children at home as the condition for setting the police officer free.

The ultras’ leader had also spoken to Dutta’s father and wife on Tuesday from their hideout over telephone and asked them to go to the state secretariat on Wednesday to brief the chief minister on the outfit’s demands.

Accordingly, the family of the abducted cop met Bhattacharjee, pleading that the government ought not take precipate steps that would endanger the life of the kidnapped officer.

“The chief minister gave us a patient hearing and assured us that he will keep in mind our request. We hope the chief minister will not take any action that Kishenji will not like,” one of the relatives of the abducted cop said.Asked whether they would make any fresh appeal to the Maoists, he said: “We want to tell Kishenji that we have conveyed his views to the chief minister and we hope Kishenji will also now see to it that he remains safe.”

He is safe: Kishenji

Maoist leader Kishenji on Wednesday said abducted police officer Atindranath Dutta was a “prisoner of war” and that he was safe, reports PTI from Kolkata.

“He is well and healthy. He is with us. We are treating him with respect,” Kishenji said.
“I want to know the government’s reaction to our demand. He cannot be released now, we want the women released in exchange,” he said, alleging that the women were picked up from Lalgarh and other areas and falsely implicated.