Kolkata:
Families of the two policemen kidnapped by Maoists three months ago in West Bengal's Lalgarh have reached Delhi, escorted by Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee.
Sub Inspector Kanchan Garai and constable Sabir Mollah had stepped outof their camp at Dharampur on July 30 to buy spare parts for agenerator when Maoists whisked them away.
"Wehave come here for the two police constables who are still missing. Weare going to request them to find them as soon as possible so that theycan come back home to us. This is the only thing we are hoping for,"said a family member of one of the cops.
"There is no clue of where the kidnapped cops are even after 90 days. We are going to complain to Chidambaram over the handling of the situation," said Trinamool leader Partha Chatterjee, who accompanied the families.
MamataBanerjee is determined to wring as much political advantage as she canout of the situation. Her priority now is to make possible a meeting between the kidnapped cops' families and the home minister.
She says will meet the home minister with "documents" to prove "a nexus" between the CPM and the Maoists.
She also claimed she could also "prove" that the Maoists' killing of policemen and abduction of an officer at Sankrail last week were "stage-managed by the government".
Earlier, the CPM had accused Mamata of having Maoist links after she repeatedly opposed the government's offensive against the guerrillas in Lalgarh.
OnSaturday, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had erroneously told apress conference that the two policemen had been killed, only to laterchange his statement.
The chief minister's statement took the state administration by surprise because police had information to the contrary.
Maoist leader Chhatradhar Mahato's bodyguard Papan Mondal had told the police almost a month ago that the kidnapped policemen were alive then.
In despair, the families approached Mamata Banerjee for help. The release of Sankrail OC Atin Dutta has raised their hopes.
Forthe families, going to Delhi is a desperate bid to have the twokidnapped policemen rescued. For the Trinamool, taking them to thecapital may certainly be an attempt to help but it also is anopportunity to extract political mileage from a situation that couldpotentially be tragic.