The released tourist Claudio Colangelo italin said the Maoists possibly took them hostage without knowing who they were. “They perhaps took us by chance,” he said. Sandeep Sahu, one of the journalists to whom the Maoists handed over Colangelo, said he had spoken to Paolo and he was fine. “We trekked 16 hours to reach the Maoist hideout, ” he added.
In the evening, Colangelo mt Italy’s consul general in Kolkata Joel Melchiori in Bhubaneswar.
Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda, who behind the abduction, to ld a news channel that Paolo would be freed once the Maoists are assured that the government will full fill some of their demands. The rebels had made 13 demands. The rebels had made 13 demands including release of Pands’ wife Subhashree, in jail for last two years.
There was no word on Hikaka. “We are waiting for some kind of response from the MLA’s abductors,” said home secretary U. N. Behera. Sources said the ruling BJD was exploring back channel negotiations with the extremists and representatives of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha, believed to be a Maoist front, for Hikaka’s release.
