The Orissa government heaved a sigh of relief after the Maoists released Malkangiri District Collector R. Vineel Krishna on Thursday evening, just before the 48-hour deadline set by them came to an end.
The rebels had set the timeline on Tuesday evening to release the Collector after the State government informed the three mediators — Someswar Rao. G. Hargopal and Dandapani Mohanty, that it was conceding all the demands.
Expressing satisfaction soon after Mr. Krishna's release, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told journalists that the Malkangiri district administration had informed him about the Collector's return. “Everyone will be happy on the return of Mr. Krishna,” he said.
Home Secretary U.N. Behera, who took active part in the five-day-long negotiations along with the three mediators, said the government would honour the commitments it had made on the 14 Maoist demands.
The news of Mr. Krishna's release came minutes after Mr. Behera and Mr. Rao said that the government was trying to fulfil the key demand — the withdrawal of the case registered against suspected Maoist Ganti Prasadam, well-known Maoist Ramakrishna's wife Padma, and three others.
