Killed 1 cop, three more to go: Maoists blackmail Nitish Govt

Hours after Maoists claimed they had killed one of the four abducted policemen and threatened to kill the others if eight jailed colleagues were not released, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar offered talks with the Maoists, assuring safe passage to the negotiators.

Maoist spokesman Avinash, in telephone calls to local TV channel Sadhna and some journalists, said Sub-Inspector Abhay Prasad Yadav had been killed. He warned that they would kill the remaining three policemen — SI Rupesh Kumar Sinha, BMP Jamadar Lucas Tete and BMP Havildar Ehsan Ahmed — if the Bihar government did not release eight Maoists by Friday.

In a gunbattle in Lakhisarai that lasted nearly 12 hours on Sunday, Maoists killed eight policemen and abducted four. Thirty of 38 districts in state are Maoist-affected.

Bihar police spokesperson P K Thakur told The Indian Express: “So far, we have no confirmation of SI Abhay Yadav’s murder. We still have no knowledge of a deadline. Our job is to rescue our men. There is no change in our stand.

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We are intensifying the operation.”

But other sources said “Abhay Yadav was killed at 4.17 pm today. The Maoists, numbering only around 50, killed him as police got closer to them in the area between Chhotki Sawasin and Badki Sawasin hills.”

In New Delhi, Union Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai said the Bihar government was trying its best to secure the release of the policemen taken hostage.

“The state government has been making all efforts to secure the release of the police personnel who have been taken hostage and we are hopeful of an outcome to the negotiations,” Pillai told reporters.