Bhubaneshwar:
After spending 29 days in captivity, Paolo Bosusco, the Italian national abducted by Maoists in Odisha, finally walked free today. Mr Bosusco was handed over by the Maoists to Dandapani Mohanty, one of the mediators appointed by them for negotiating with the state government for the Italian's release, and some journalists in the forests of the tribal-dominated Kandhamal district.
The 51-year-old Italian, who has been working as a tour operator in Puri since the last 19 years, was taken hostage by the Maoists on March 14 alongwith compatriot and tourist, Claudio Colangelo while trekking in the forests of Daringbadi area in the Kandhamal district. The latter, a 61-year-old tourist, though, was freed by the ultras after some days but Mr Bosusco wasn't as lucky. The Maoists laid down several conditions, including a 13-point charter of demands, in front of the state government for his release.
Addressing mediapersons in the state capital Bhubaneshwar following his release, a relieved Mr Bosusco said, "I am happy being a free man now. I am tired and need some rest... I am very sorry that time has come to leave India when work is finished. But my history of love with Odisha will never be finished. Odia people will always be part of my heart."
(Watch)Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, for whom the hostage crisis has been nothing short of a nightmare, said, "Second Italian hostage has been released now. He is in our state's guest house."
Mr Bosusco also met the Italian Ambassador and Consul-General who has been camping in Bhubaneshwar since the last several days as suspense prevailed over his fate. "It is an end to a risky and very complicated affair in which we were constantly involved on all levels with the aim of guaranteeing the lives of our compatriots," Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi said.
The nearly month-long hostage crisis surrounding the Italian has been nothing short of an ordeal as the issue escalated into a major concern for the Naveen Patnaik-led Odisha government. Sabyasachi Panda, who headed the Maoist group that had abducted Mr Bosusco, had remained firm on his demands including the release of some political prisoners, one of them being his wife Subhashree Panda. Even as the government was deliberating on the pre-conditions laid down by him, Mr Panda had, in two separate audio messages, warned of "dire consequences" if his demands were not met. He had also accused the government of not being serious about the issue. The pressure on the government grew further with reports emerging of Mr Bosusco's failing health.
But hopes of the Italian's release arose when the government and the Maoists represented by mediators from both sides signed a joint agreement which broadly met with the ultras' demands. This deal though proved to be short-lived as Mr Panda immediately announced that the government had not made clear which of his 13 demands would be met with, adding that two of the names mentioned in the list of prisoners to be freed were ones that he never knew of.
Just as negotiations appeared to be breaking down, Mr Panda's wife Subhashree was released from jail following her acquittal by a Gunupur court in an encounter case of 2004. Mr Panda had welcomed the news and had and hinted at the release of the Italian. But in an audio message yesterday, in what appeared to be a fresh roadblock, Mr Panda said that Mr Bosusco would be released only after the state government responded to his demand for lifting the ban on three mass organisations. Mr Panda also said that he had come to know of the content of the joint statement signed by the Odisha government and the Maoist-appointed mediators, which was one of the preconditions for the release of the Italian national.
Even as the Italian's release has come as a major relief for the Odisha government, the hostage crisis is still far from over with abducted MLA Jhina Hikaka continuing to be held captive by another faction of the Maoists. Mr Hikaka, a legislator from the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), was kidnapped on March 24 from the Koraput district. The group holding him hostage, the Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee, has demand the release of 30 rebels, including one accused of killing 55 policemen.
Appealing to the Maoists to release the MLA at the earliest, the Chief Minister said, "I plead the Maoists to release our MLA immediately...his entire family is waiting for him."