Bhubaneshwar:
The collector being held hostage by Naxals in Orissa will not be released today. If a new round of negotiations with the Naxals succeed, RV Krishna could be released tomorrow.
Mr Krishna was kidnapped along with an engineer named Pabitra Majhi on February 16 from Orissa's Malkangiri district. Mr Majhi returned home last evening after he was set free. Mr Krishna, Naxals said, would follow a few hours later.
However, they then changed their minds and the conditions that the government had agreed to for the release of the two hostages.
In keeping with the original agreement struck with the Naxals via a team of three mediators, Ganti Prasad, a senior Naxal leader in jail was granted bail yesterday. He had been charged with sedition when he was arrested in November. In court yesterday, the government said it had no evidence against him.
But the Naxals then asked for five other leaders to be released - including senior Naxal Sriramulu Srinivas who is currently in the Malkangiri jail.
The Naxals want the three mediators who were selected by them to negotiate with the government to escort their comrades to the Malkangiri forests after they've been released.
Two of the three mediators have flown to Korakut to begin new negotiations with the Naxals.