Maoists release one Italian as ‘goodwill gesture’,silent on MLA

Panda said while Colangelo was released as a “goodwill gesture”,Bosusco would only be let off after the 13 demands set by them,including the release of Panda’s wife Subhasree Das,were met.

Colangelo denied Maoist allegations that he and Basusco were captured by the Maoists while taking pictures of tribal women. He told officials at Soroda police station in Ganjam that he was treated well and was fine health wise,but had spent his days in captivity in fear. “He is a regular runner and thus had no problem even as the Maoists kept changing their hideout,” Ganjam SP Rajesh Pandit told The Indian Express.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik hoped that negotiators who had suspended talks yesterday would resume dialogue now. Regarding Hikaka,he hoped that Maoists would release him unharmed as he was a popular tribal leader.

What has officials perplexed is that there have been no demands from the Maoist side regarding his release. Some believe Hikaka’s abduction may have been unplanned and that the Maoists probably did not know he was in the car that they stopped near his village in Laxmipur.

“Once they got to know he was an MLA,they probably smelt an opportunity. Most likely,it is the Koraput-Srikakulam divisional committee of Maoists that abducted Hikaka,” said an official.