Maoists kidnap 4 Bihar cops, kill one

The kidnapping of four policemen by Maoists in Bihar took a shocking turn on Thursday, when one of them, was reported killed while the rest faced death threats on Friday.

Admitting his helplessness to the families of the cops held hostage, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that he was ready to hold talks with Maoists, in the wake of the killing of Abhay Kumar Yadav, one of the four kidnapped by the Left-wing extremists. Yadav was killed by Maoists following a decision taken by the 'people's court', after the deadline given by them to the state government expired.

"Hum or hamari sarkaar baat karne ko taiyar hain"(We are ready for talks)," Nitish Kumar said while reacting to the Maoists' threat that the remaining three will be killed by Friday morning if their demands were not met.

Avinash, a self-proclaimed Maoist spokesman, had confirmed that Maoists had killed Yadav, a sub-inspector in the state police. "The government compelled us to kill Yadav as there was no move on the part of the government to initiate dialogue or negotiations, six hours after the deadline expired on Thursday morning," he said.

The rebels are seeking the release of at least six jailed Maoist commanders in exchange for the policemen. "We killed him and warned the state government to release our comrades till 10 am on Friday morning, failing which we will kill all three policemen," Avinash told rediff.com over the telephone. He said that Maoists will hand over Yadav's body on Thursday night to the police.

Avinash had told rediff.com that Maoists want to hold talks with the CM. "We are keen to talk with the Chief Minister on the issue" he said.
Nitish Kumar also appealed to intellectuals across the country to come forward to initiate dialogue with Maoists to end the cycle of violence.

Additional Director General of Police (headquarters) P K Thakur said "We have no information about the killing of Yadav till now" he said.

Meanwhile, authorities are carrying out a massive search to trace the abducted policemen. The Bihar police had claimed that it had vital clues about where the abducted cops were being kept. Inspector-General (Operations) K S Dwivedi, told PTI from Lakhisarai that the combined forces of Central Reserve Police Force, State Auxiliary Police, Bihar Military Police and the Special Task Force of the Bihar police were continuing with their search.

The Maoists had kidnapped sub-inspectors Rupesh Kumar and Abhay Prasad Yadav, BMP havildar Ehtesham Khan and BMP Assistant Sub-Inspector Lucas Tete . Six BMP personnel, officer-in-charge of Kawaiya police outpost Bhulan Yadav and a policeman were killed in the gunfight with Maoists in the Kajra police station area on Sunday. Meanwhile, the families of the kidnapped policemen have appealed to the State government to give in to the Maoists' demands to guarantee the safety of their loved ones.

In New Delhi, Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai said the Bihar government was trying its best to secure the release of the policemen and the Centre expected an early resolution of the crisis.

-Asian Tribune-