Senior officials and police officers of Chhattisgarh appeared optimistic that the four policemen abducted by Maoists will be released late Tuesday night or in the early hours of Wednesday.
Seven policemen were abducted on September 19 as they travelled from Bhopalpatnam to Bhadrakali in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district.
While the corpses of three policemen were recovered soon after, policemen Sukluram Bhagat, and constables Narendra Khosle, Subhash Patra and B Toppo were believed to be captured by the Maoists.
After a week of silence, handwritten posters found at Bijapur stated that the four policemen were in Maoist custody and would be released if the State government halted Operation Greenhunt, released Maoist leaders and villagers jailed by the police, cracked down on police atrocities and started peace talks with the CPI (Maoist).
While the State government has not conceded any of these demands, the officials believe that the hostages shall be released soon.
“We are hopeful that they shall be released tonight,” said Principal Secretary (Home) N.K Aswal said on Tuesday. Mr. Aswal said the release of the hostages had been mediated by “mediapersons and social activists,” but declined to name anyone.
While Chief Minister Raman Singh, Maoist ideologue Varavara Rao and social activist Swami Agnivesh have all made public appeals to the Maoists to release the policemen, it is unclear whether any negotiation has taken place.
