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Maoists deny hand in abduction

PHOTO:PTI

Swachhotaya Basu (Left), wife of Soumyajit Basu, and Barnali Biswas (Right), wife of Intelligence Bureau inspector Partha Biswas, during a signature campaign for the release of their husbands in Kolkata on Thursday.

KOLKATA: The Maoists on Thursday denied responsibility in the abduction of the two persons — an officer of the State's Intelligence Branch and an NGO worker — who have been reported missing from the Ayodhya hills in Purulia district for two weeks.

Officials of the State police had suspected the Maoists to be behind the abduction as the Ayodhya hills area has a Maoist presence. The denial has only aggravated the anguish of their relatives who have been repeatedly appealing to the authorities to take measures to secure their release.

In a written statement sent to the media, a regional leader of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), Bikram has said, “We have learnt that an intelligence branch inspector and a school teacher have been abducted, but we are not involved.”

Significantly, the letter is dated October 25 but was received by various media houses only during the day, two days after Communist Party of India (Maoist) Polit Bureau member Kishenji told the media that he did not know the whereabouts of the missing duo.

Asked whether the Maoists were behind the incident despite their denial, the State's Home Secretary, G.D. Gautama, said that nothing can be ruled out. “We cannot share anything at this stage.”

Partha Biswas, an officer of the Intelligence Branch and his friend, a school teacher and NGO worker Soumyajit Basu went missing on the night of October 22.

Their families, baffled by the development, staged a sit-in demonstration during the day appealing to the abductors to release their loved ones.

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