Ranchi:
More than 36 hours after four government employees were kidnapped by suspected Naxals in Jharkhand's Giridih district, there is still no news of them. The district administration claims the Naxals have still not made any demands for their release.
The abduction took place in the Navkania village of the district's Naxal-dominated Pirtand block, 300 km from capital Ranchi. Among those kidnapped, three are panchayat-level staff - village-level worker Chandradev,
gram rozgar sewak of NREGA Shambu Pandey and
panchayat sewak Maksood Ansari - and the fourth is a Prime Minister Rural Development Fellow (PMRDF), Sai Vamsi Vardhan.
The four were kidnapped when they were at a school to organise a camp to collect applications for social security pensions and to do some NREGA work.
The district police and the Central Reserve Police Force launched search operations in the area on Sunday.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren held a high level meeting with Director General of Police Rajiv Kumar and other top police officials and asked them to immediately secure the release of those kidnapped.
Meanwhile, government officials in the district have threatened to go on strike if urgent steps are not taken to get the kidnapped officials released.