Maoists to decide fate of kidnapped Bihar cops at 'people's court'

Maoist spokesperson Avinash called up local TV channels and said the fate of the policemen would be decided at a jan adalat Thursday. The Maoists had abducted them after a gunfight in Lakhisarai district Sunday and threatened to kill them unless the rebel leaders were released.

Avinash said after the deadline to release their jailed leaders expired at 10 a.m. Thursday, top leaders of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) had been informed about the decision to hold a jan adalat.

The guerrillas had earlier set a deadline of 4 p.m. Wednesday. But Avinash later told local Hindi news channels they had decided to extend it till Thursday in view of appeals by the family members of the abducted policemen.

The rebels had abducted the policemen in a six-hour-long gunfight in Lakhisarai district Sunday. The gunbattle left seven policemen dead and 10 injured. Maoists claimed the gunfight was in retaliation for the killing of their leader Azad and a journalist.

Avinash had Tuesday said he had communicated their demand for releasing eight Maoists to the chief minister's official residence. "In case the government fails to release them, we will be compelled to kill the four policemen," he said.

However, Bihar Director General of Police Neelmani said security forces would rescue the policemen soon. According to an official source, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is supervising the rescue operations himself.