Bhubaneswar:
Nearly a month after Odisha MLA Jhina Hikaka was abducted by the Maoists, uncertainty still continues over his fate. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA was kidnapped on March 24 from Koraput district while he was returning home from a political meeting.
Early morning today, there were reports that Mr Hikaka has been released at an undisclosed location. But later, it turned out that he had only been shifted from one place to another.
Amid the confusion over the MLA's status, a spokesperson for the Maoists released an audio message saying the MLA has not been freed and that he is yet to be produced in what the Maoists call a 'praja court'. The spokesperson also made it clear that the Maoists will not free Mr Hikaka until April 25.
"The praja court (or people's court) is yet to take place. When the government is taking so much time to take decisions, we will also take our own time to convene the praja court. "The MLA is safe and is with us. He has not been released. The praja court will take the final decision about him and that also would take time," the spokesperson said in the audio message sent to several TV channels.
"We have given a bandh call on April 21 and 22. The people are vehemently opposing the state government's offer and decisions. We will inform the media by April 25 about the final verdict of the praja court which will be held one of these days. We have also decided to observe a protest week beginning April 24 to oppose Operation Greenhunt and recent heavy deployment of central forces in Chhatisgarh," the spokesperson added.
Sources say the Maoists will wait till the Supreme Court's final verdict on a petition filed by a retired Army officer opposing the Odisha government's decision to release jailed Maoists to secure Mr Hikaka's release.
The Supreme Court yesterday sought the Centre's and Odisha government's response on the petition filed by retired Major General Gangdeep Bakshi. A bench of justices TS Thakur and Gyan Sudha Misra gave the respondents two weeks to file a reply.
The Maoists have demanded the release of 29 prisoners in exchange of Mr Hikaka. The government has so far agreed to facilitate the release of only 25 prisoners including eight Maoists. It has also agreed to drop charges against 13 of them - including five Maoists.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government is said to have told the Home Ministry that it wants to handle the hostage crisis on its own. The state, say sources, has also said that it does not want any other help except intelligence inputs from the Centre. It wants the centre to keep all anti-Maoists operations on pause mode for the sake of Mr Hikaka's safety.
The Centre is watching the hostage situation carefully. Sources say given the fraught Centre-state relations, it does not want to take any unilateral action as yet.