Kidnapped cop's body found, fate of other hostages unknown

03/09/2010

Kidnapped cop's body found, fate of other hostages unknown

Patna/New Delhi/Ranchi, Sep 3 (IANS) The hostage crisis in Bihar deepened Friday with the bullet-riddled body of Lucas Tete found in a forest and uncertainty continuing about the fate of his three colleagues kidnapped by Maoists along with him five days ago.

The day after rebels claimed to have killed Sub Inspector Abhay Kumar Yadav, another chapter in the Maoist history of bloodshed was written with police finding a body in the Simratali forests of Lakhisarai district, about 150 km from the state capital Patna.

It turned out to be the body of Lucas Tete and not of Abhay Kumar Yadav, as Maoists had claimed Thursday, Munger's Deputy Inspector General of Police Shah Rukh Majeed said.

There was no confirmation about Yadav or the other two -- Rupesh Kumar Sinha and Ehsan Khan - who had been kidnapped Sunday after a six-hour gunfight in Lakhisarai that left seven policemen dead.

Villagers said Maoists had left a handwritten poster near Tete's body, warning that they would not talk with the government any more.

Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) P.K. Thakur told reporters in Patna that it was unfortunate that Tete was killed, adding that police operations were on to rescue the others.

He said combing operations had been intensified in Lakhisarai, Jamui, Banka and Munger districts.

Another official added that scores of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers were scouring the forests, hoping to find a clue to the whereabouts of the other hostages.

Police officials said the state government had requested three more helicopters from the Border Security Force (BSF) as one helicopter was already engaged in operations against Maoists since Tuesday.

Tete's body was first taken to a nearby police station and then to the Lakhisarai district headquarters from there to Patna, where his wife Pyari and three teen daughters -- Anjela, Majula and Neelam -- had arrived from their home in Ranchi.

Maoists had claimed to have killed Yadav around 4 p.m. Thursday, six hours after their second deadline expired at 10 a.m. The killing took place following a decision by a 'jan adalat' - a kangaroo court - a Maoist spokesperson said.

Maoists claimed Sunday's gunfight and kidnappings were in retaliation for the killing of their leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad and a journalist on the night of July 1-2 in Andhra Pradesh.

The rebels said the four kidnapped policemen would be killed unless eight jailed Maoist leaders were released.

The Maoists have also warned the Bihar government of more attacks if the operations against them did not stop immediately.

A senior police official told IANS in Patna that the government seemed in no mood to bow to the Maoists' demands after Tete's killing.

Tete's killing - a year after another police officer from Jharkhand, Francis Induwar, was abducted by Maoists and beheaded - has led to deep concern in New Delhi.

Maoists, said a union home ministry official, were aiming to "demolish the morale" of security personnel.

"It is a disturbing trend. It is a move to demolish the morale of the forces," the official told IANS.

He said the central government was viewing the Bihar situation against the backdrop of the coming assembly polls later this year.

The news of the killing of Tete, who hailed from a poor tribal family in Jharkhand's Simdega district, led to shock in his home state.

His wife Pyari had appealed to Maoists through the media to free her husband.

Condemnations and appeals for the release of the other three policemen came in from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).

"We condemn the killing. The Maoists are turning out to be terrorists. Jharkhand Police want to know what kind of Gandhian ideology is being followed by Maoists who are indulging in killing innocent policemen who are doing their duty," said Jharkhand police spokesperson R.K. Mallik.

The question marks continue, as does the agony of the families.

Farida Khanam, Khan's wife, who is posted with the Bihar Military Police, has threatened to commit suicide if her husband is killed. She has appealed to Maoists to release her husband.

Certainly Bihar CM is lacking vision. during his almost 5 years tenure, he never took this issue so seriously. Infact he was against the operation against Maoist which was decided in CM's meetings of states in New Delhi. The reason was election is on head and we cant take risk.The main problem of our distorted democracy is most of the naxal infested CMs are not cooperating with Chidambram.
Now as far as concerned with Bihar, all politican thinks they are safe, as they will be protected by our security forces till last breath of their life. So why to bother ! According to local news report Sub-inspector Yadav was not even alloted a revolver that time and he went in operation empty handed. Lakhisarai police headquarter repeatedly asked for bullet proof jacket, anti-mine vehichle, advanced weapon, but not even half of their demands were considered. I also belong to Lakhisarai and I am well aware about the development of this area. What we see in newspaper, is different from reality.
Some questions answer curious to know from those sitting in power--
1. When maoist are considered represeting poor and oppresed people, from where they are getting huge money. without huge investment of money, mass gathering of 1000-2000 people is not possible. How their intelligence is so strong and ours so weak.
Is our government really serious to resolve this issue or simply they want to make it agenda for indefinate time.

My condolence to all those policemen and may God give solace to their family.They must be singing, "Kar chale ham fida , jane tan sathiyon, ab tumhare hawale vatan sathiyon". Let's see how our leader act for future.

It has been highlighted by various newspapers as well as “Aaj-Tak” that unless some actions is taken, the other three members of Bihar Police is going to be executed as well. This has created an atmosphere of fear and anarchy in the state. It is felt that the Govt. is not taking adequate steps towards addressing this issue, because when bullets hit the body, when we are invaded, when lawlessness is on the rise, we do not meet; but act. When Naxalites hit us hard, so much that the policemen are killed, threatened and kidnapped, it is too late to “conduct a meeting”. When Tete’s body is brought back with a note, we sit back and say “lets deal with it tomorrow”. That sounds like a school boy saying, “I shall deal with my homework tomorrow, today I want to play”. What is more important than the security of the people of Bihar?

“Lets meet tomorrow” is too late, Mr. Nitish Kumar. It seems that the chief minister instead of dealing with strength and authority, is looking for an “All Party Solution” to the problem of Naxalities. Wait a minute, who is the Chief Minister? Lets inspect the word again, “Chief”, is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as “the head or leader of an organized body or highest in rank or authority”. Leadership is determined by one’s ability to think quickly and act fast. Mr. Kumar exhibits very little of this quality. This is war time, not a loosey-goosey day. It time to act, defend Bihar and the threat to it. If Mr. Kumar needs advice from all parties on this issue, he should share the seat as well house with everyone else.

This is just another instance which exhibits the weak leadership of Mr. Nitish Kumar and his cabinet. Every police officer, or Govt. officer fears who’s next. The chief minister should come out and explain why such an incident has happened in the state of Bihar. If the lives of policemen are under threat, who is safe? Well, we should rest assured because Mr. Nitish Kumar is going to have this problem solved.

The whole world is laughing at Mr. Kumar incompetency. The Bihari community in United States and other parts of the world, asks Mr Nitish, “Enough meetings, talks, claim to fame; where is the action that you are personally responsible for?”

Why cannot the naxalites be hunted down? Why does the state not use the forces it has to hunt them down? Why is the police force been tamed? Why is the CRPF a standing duck? What else is the definition of lawlessness, when a state official is executed, and all the state does is “meet tomorrow”. Well, Mr. Nitish Kumar cannot be called the “chief minister” ; I am sure he can be called the “chief consultant” as “he is looking to consult everyone”.

in this case all failure are bihar govt failure, from last 5 days we all seeing that bihar govnt not take necessery action, ihar cm mr nitish kr and other oposition now day working only for future election they all are responsible for this ,
Deepak mishra