Lakisarai, Bihar:
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said that the government cannot confirm the release of the three policemen being held hostage by the Naxals since last Sunday. The fourth cop, Lukas Tete, was killed on Friday and his body was found with a note from the Naxals.
But now there is some hope for the families of the three other policemen after Avinash, who claims to be a spokesperson for the Naxals, told NDTV that the hostages will be released on Sunday morning.
"We reject the Bihar government's talks offer. We will free the three hostage cops on Sunday, will only tell their families where they will be released. Those arrested today by the police are ordinary villagers, they are innocent" said Avinash on Saturday. (
Read & watch: Bihar hostage crisis: Naxals refuse to talk)
This came after the Bihar Chief Minister convened an all-party meeting on Saturday to discuss the crisis. After the two-hour-long meeting, Nitish Kumar appealed to the Naxals not to harm the hostages and offered safe passage to the Naxals for talks. (
Read and watch: Don't harm hostages, Nitish appeals to Naxals)
"We want to have face-to-face talk with the Maoists. We will provide a safe passage to the Maoists during talks," Nitish said.
On Saturday, the police arrested two key Naxals - Pintu Da, a local area commander, and Bahadur Yadav - both believed to be involved in the Lakhisarai operation. (
Read: 2 Maoists involved in kidnapping held)
Eight other suspected Naxals were also arrested near the site of last Sunday's encounter. The Bihar Police have, meanwhile, intensified their combing operations in the forests of Lakhisarai.
But for the policemen's families, the nightmare continues. In Simdega, the funeral of Lokas Tete the Havaldar killed by Naxals took place and in Patna the wife of Havaldar Ehsaan who is still being held captive made a desperate appeal to the Chief Minister.
"I want to tell Nitish ji that for his own security he has cordoned two km around his own house, no one can go beyond that but I want to ask him that if my husband was his son or brother or nephew would he do the same thing? So I want to tell him that I want my husband to be back as early as possible in the condition that he left," said his wife.