Menon to stay at CRPF camp tonight

After 12 days in captivity abducted IAS official Alex Paul Menon who was abducted from the Sukma district of Chhattisgarh was finally released today from captivity into the custody of three mediators. Here’s an account of the release of the collector as it happened today:

7.15pm: Sukma deputy collector meet press contingent at a CRPF base in Chintalnar. The visibly tired IAS officer said, “At this juncture I would like to thank my mediators from both sides, my seniors, the government, friends and families. I am shattered and tired. I would just like to rest and go back home.”

7.18pm: “I am not going back to Sukma tonight. I am staying here,” said Menon.

6:45 pm: Menon’s family thank everyone for their support. His father-in-law TR Venugopal tells CNN-IBN they are relieved and would like to thank everyone for their support.

6:40 pm Menon arrives at the CRPF base in Chintalnar and is expected to be debriefed.

6:25 pm: Menon arrives at the CRPF base in Chintalnar. First visuals of the abducted IAS official on Times Now indicate he is well.

“I would like to thank the mediators from both sides, my state government, my Chief Minister, my Chief Secretary, all my seniors, family and friends. " Menon tells the assembled media persons.

When asked if he would leave Sukma after the incident, the abducted IAS official said he would stay in the area if asked to.

“We follow state government orders and if the government wants me to stay here then I will,” he said.

“I am ok, I will speak after a day,” a tired looking Menon said, adding he just wants to go back home.

When asked how he felt after being released, Menon said,“I feel relieved.”

Accompanied by the two mediators in the case, Menon boarded a vehicle and left from the Chintalnar CRPF base by road. The abducted IAS official is expected to go home in Sukma and then to state capital Raipur.

6:00 pm: N Baijendra Kumar, secretary to the CM tell CNN IBN that as per local intelligence and local media they had learnt that the collector had been released. However, he has no information about why Menon has not arrived at the CRPF base in Chintalnar.

Helicopter cannot be used to ferry him out post sunset, he says.

“We dont want to interevene in any way presently,” he says.

5:20 pm: An ambulance sent to bring back the released IAS official returns saying that the Maoists did not permit them to go to the location where the mediators had gone. The ambulance reaches the CRPF base at Chintalnar only to be mobbed by media persons.

5:10 pm: Nirmala Buch, who is part of a committee formed to look into the Maoists’ demands, says there is no reason to be worried about the delay in the arrival of Menon at the nearest CRPF base and it is perhaps a logistical problem.

“Within one hour of Menon’s release we will form committee and we are waiting for that,” she tells Times Now.

The immediate task is lay down the parameters of the commitee and to look into cases, Buch said. The former IAS official says she would like to see peace in the region.

5:00 pm: Helicopter that landed at CRPF base takes off again and leaves from Chintalnar. Times Now says that the released collector will now have to drive to Sukma since the helicopter has left.

4:55 pm: Helicopter arrives at Chintalnar CRPF base presumably to ferry the released IAS official and the mediators who negotiated his release. Still no sign of Menon though.

4:45 pm: Still no sign of Menon and most channels are sticking with the visual of a road that approaches the Chintalnar area.

4:35 pm: CRPF personnel patrolling road that leads to their camp in Chintalnar and Times Now says it is a sign that a sanitisation operation is being conducted to ensure a chopper can be used to take Menon from there.

4:20 pm: Times Now says there has been a delay in the arrival of the released IAS official in Chintalnar since his release. No helicopter present at the police base to take him to Sukma, the channel says.

3:50 pm: PK Venugopal, Menon’s father in law tells CNN IBN that his daughter will be very happy with the news that her husband has been released.

“My son in law says that because we have taken civil services exam and we are going to do welfare works so no one will be our enemy,” he says. Menon never listened to warnings from me about Maoists, he says.

His daughter Asha was as adamant about staying in Sukma, Venugopal says. We would like that they should be in an area where there is no Maoist problem, he says.

“I request Dr Raman Singh and Home Minister Chidambaram to post them in an area where there are no Maoists. For about a year they should be kept in an area without Maoists so that they can regain their vigour and then go back,” he says.

3:45 pm: Menon’s family begins celebrations at his official residence in Sukma after news of the IAS official’s release.

Menon’s father tells Times Now that not only him but his entire family and the country is happy with Menon’s release.

3:41 pm : Additional Director General of Police Ram Niwas tells Times Now they have not been able to speak with the mediators following the release of Menon.

The senior police official says he doesn’t know where the collector will be taken after he reaches the nearest CRPF base at Chintalnar. Menon can choose if he would like to visit his house in Sukma before he is taken to Raipur, Niwas said.

3:40 pm : Nirmala Buch tells Times Now that she is not aware where the abducted collector will be taken. The Chhattisgarh government will create a high powered committee to fulfil the tasks agreed on. They will evaluate all cases against tribals arrested on allegations of supporting Maoists.

3:30 pm: Times Now reports Additional Director General of Police Ram Niwas has confirmed that the abducted collector handed over to the mediators and it isn’t clear whether he will be taken to Raipur or Sukma.

3:20 pm: NDTV shows footage of a vehicle which has abducted collector Alex Paul Menon in it. The collector has been released into the custody of the two mediators sent and is on his way back, they say.

3:00 pm: Times Now reports that Maoists stopped media from accompanying the mediators till the place where Alex Paul Menon will be released.Two vehicles, one carrying the mediators and another one, were permitted to enter the forests.

Media persons are camped at a CRPF base near the Tadmetla forests where they are still awaiting the return of the abducted collector and the mediators.

2:15 pm: CNN IBN reports that Menon should be released around 4 pm and that the mediators have returned after meeting with the Naxalites in the forests in the Tadmetla area.

The channel reports that a driver has been asked to stay behind with a vehicle to take the abducted IAS officer back home.

2:00 pm: Menon’s father-in-law tells NDTV says that today is like Diwali for the family.

“My son in law is enthusiastic and wanted to work for the poor. He always wanted to stay in Sukma, even my daughter wanted to stay in Sukma,” he told NDTV.

However, as a father he would prefer that his son-in-law and daughter leave Sukma after his release. So far no word yet from the mediators who have entered the forest for the release of Menon.

1:15 pm: According to PTI, the abducted collector is to be released  in full public view at Tadmetla, a Maoist -dominated forested area in Sukma.

Health officials in Sukma, Dantewada, Jagdalpur as well as Raipur districts have been asked to be ready for a check up. Also, an ambulance has been stationed at Chintalnar to meet any possible emergency, N Baijendra Kumar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Raman Singh was quoted as saying.

1: 10 pm: Former MLA, Manish Kunjam who had taken medicines for the abducted collector earlier says Menon should be released around 2 pm. The former MLA has also departed for the forests to accompany the two other mediators for the release of the IAS officer, NDTV reports.

Kunjam incidentally had backed out of acting as a mediator in the matter  when he was nominated by the Maoists but has been aiding the negotitations.

The channel also reports that his wife Asha, who is pregnant , may have low blood pressure and the collector could make a stop at home before going to state capital Raipur for a medical check up.

1:00 pm : Alex Paul Menon’s Facebook page is abuzz with messages wishing the IAS official well. Over 4,800 people signed up the ‘Free Alex Paul Menon’ Facebook  page and every update on his release draws more comments.

12:45 pm: Alex Paul Menon’s uncle and brother Anand tell reporters that they are glad that he is being released today.

“I am thankful to the state government for their efforts to release him,” Anand Paul Menon told Times Now.

12:30 pm: BD Sharma one of the mediators from the government tells Times Now that he and professor Hargopal are confident of returning from the forests in Tadmetla area with the abducted collector. He says there is no word on whether the Maoists have made any additional demands for the release of the abducted IAS officer.

The two mediators had flown in from Raipur early this morning and government officials have medical staff on standby for a checkup of the collector once he’s released.

Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon was abducted by Maoists on 21 April after which he has been in captivity despite pleas for his release. An asthmatic, Menon required medicine while in captivity which was delivered to him by former MLA Manish Kunjam.

Two mediators, BD Sharma and Professor G Hargopal, have been leading the Chhattisgarh government’s negotiations with the Maoists and after prolonged negoatiations the collector is to be freed today.

The agreement did not concede the demand by the Maoists for the release of their eight jailed associates in exchange for the freedom of Menon.

But a statement by the Maoists said the government had agreed to set up a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of Nirmala Buch, one of the two government mediators, to review the cases of prisoners in Chattisgarh jails, including the cases demanded by the Maoists.

The Committee, which will have Chief Secretary and state DGP as members, will become operational “within an hour” of the release of Menon, according to the agreement.