[null, {"document_url": "https://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2134122/Maoists-devils-choice-demanding-release-prisoners-exchange-Sukma-collector-Alex-Paul-Menon.html", "unformatted_src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/facebook/DailyMail/DailyMail.png", "src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/furniture/facebook/DailyMail/DailyMail.png", "formatted_filename": "DailyMail"}, null, {"document_url": "https://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2134122/Maoists-devils-choice-demanding-release-prisoners-exchange-Sukma-collector-Alex-Paul-Menon.html", "unformatted_src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/23/article-2134122-12BB7084000005DC-502_634x478.jpg", "src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/23/article-2134122-12BB7084000005DC-502_634x478.jpg", "formatted_filename": "article BB DC", "alt_text": "Captive: Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon who was taken hostage by Maoist rebels in India", "rendered_width": 634, "rendered_height": 478}, null, {"document_url": "https://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2134122/Maoists-devils-choice-demanding-release-prisoners-exchange-Sukma-collector-Alex-Paul-Menon.html", "unformatted_src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/23/article-2134122-12B45E69000005DC-891_634x478.jpg", "src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/23/article-2134122-12B45E69000005DC-891_634x478.jpg", "formatted_filename": "article B E DC", "alt_text": "The Babu on a bike: IAS officer Alex Paul Menon, 32, was abducted the Sukma District in Chhattisgarh", "rendered_width": 634, "rendered_height": 478}, null, {"document_url": "https://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2134122/Maoists-devils-choice-demanding-release-prisoners-exchange-Sukma-collector-Alex-Paul-Menon.html", "unformatted_src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/23/article-2134122-12BBC2B8000005DC-877_634x421.jpg", "src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/23/article-2134122-12BBC2B8000005DC-877_634x421.jpg", "formatted_filename": "article BBC B DC", "alt_text": "The abandoned bike of Alex Paul Menon after maoists attacked his convoy and took him hostage", "rendered_width": 634, "rendered_height": 421}, null, {"document_url": "https://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2134122/Maoists-devils-choice-demanding-release-prisoners-exchange-Sukma-collector-Alex-Paul-Menon.html", "unformatted_src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/23/article-2134122-12BB70A0000005DC-136_306x423.jpg", "src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/23/article-2134122-12BB70A0000005DC-136_306x423.jpg", "formatted_filename": "article BB A DC", "alt_text": "Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh", "rendered_width": 306, "rendered_height": 423}, null, {"document_url": "https://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2134122/Maoists-devils-choice-demanding-release-prisoners-exchange-Sukma-collector-Alex-Paul-Menon.html", "unformatted_src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/23/article-2134122-12BB7216000005DC-17_634x561.jpg", "src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/23/article-2134122-12BB7216000005DC-17_634x561.jpg", "formatted_filename": "article BB DC", "alt_text": "rebels release wish list", "rendered_width": 634, "rendered_height": 561}, null, {"document_url": "https://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2134122/Maoists-devils-choice-demanding-release-prisoners-exchange-Sukma-collector-Alex-Paul-Menon.html", "unformatted_src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/10/24/02/5195041F00000578-0-image-a-79_1540343891511.jpg", "src": "https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/10/24/02/5195041F00000578-0-image-a-79_1540343891511.jpg", "formatted_filename": "F image a", "rendered_width": 154, "rendered_height": 115}, null, null]


Maoists give a devil's choice demanding the release of eight prisoners in exchange for Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon

By Aman Sharma

Published: 16:21 EDT, 23 April 2012 | Updated: 16:21 EDT, 23 April 2012


Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh has a tough choice to make.

The name of Shantipriya alias Malti, a hardcore rebel sentenced to 10 years in prison, is on the list of eight prisoners the Maoists want released in exchange for Alex Paul Menon, the abducted Sukma district collector.

Malti was arrested in 2008 from a hostel in Raipur along with another woman named Meena Chaudhary, whose name also features in the list of prisoners.

The Union home ministry has been left alarmed by the list which features many hardcore rebels. Captive: Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon who was taken hostage by Maoist rebels in India

Last July, Malti was convicted by a court in Raipur to 10 years' imprisonment on charges of waging a war against the country and sedition.

She responded to the judgment by raising slogans inside the court in favour of the Maoist revolution.

The Chhattisgarh Police say she is the wife of top Maoist leader Gudsa Usaindi and had been working on setting up the urban network of the rebels.




The police, in fact, claim to have tracked her after catching a cache of arms in Raipur and linking them to her.

The police consider Malti and Meena so hardcore that they are kept isolated in segregated cells in the Raipur Central Jail.

The state government on Monday formed a five member team headed by the CM to look into the demands of the Maoists. An all-party meeting was also convened to discuss the crisis.

Besides the CM, the panel includes PWD minister Brijmohan Agrawal, water resources minister Ramvichar Netam, home minister Nankiram Kanwar and tribal welfare minister Kedar Kashyap. The Babu on a bike: IAS officer Alex Paul Menon, 32, was abducted the Sukma District in Chhattisgarh The abandoned bike of Alex Paul Menon after maoists attacked his convoy and took him hostage

While the CM said the government got to know of the rebels' demands through the media, Kanwar said the government was ready for talks 'but the message should be clear on who will hold negotiations and how they should be carried forward'.

While Chhattisgarh dwells on what to do next, the Centre remains ambivalent on how to deal with the hostage situation.

Though the home ministry claims a UAV has tracked down Menon's location to the Chhattisgarh- Orissa border where around 400 Maoists are keeping him hostage some 20 km away from the spot where he was kidnapped, all security operations in Bastar have been put on hold. Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh

CM Singh has in fact been asking since last year for the deployment of an NSG battalion in his state given the threat from Maoists - he repeated this demand during the CMs' conference last week saying the rebels were using abduction as a strategic weapon in their fight.

But the home ministry has not acceded to the demand saying the NSG is not skilled for jungle warfare with the Maoists.

A source said home secretary R.K. Singh is planning to write to the chief secretaries of all nine Maoist-affected states for their views on whether the government should negotiate with the rebels at all in such a situations.

'We want to form a unified Maoist hostage policy… our view is that there should be no negotiations with the rebels as this is a terror act,' a senior home ministry official said.

But it remains unexplained why a brainstorming session wasn't conducted on this key issue during the CMs' conference, where there was a separate session with the CMs of the nine affected states.

Waking up late to the abduction threat as well, it is only on Monday that the home ministry sent an advisory to all states explaining the dos and don'ts for civil servants and politicians when they venture out in Maoist-affected areas.

'Menon had been advised in writing by the Chhattisgarh Police not to venture out with just two guards.

'Still, he didn't even inform the local police about his plan. The police station was just 2 km from the spot,' a home ministry official said.

In Sukma on Monday, tribal welfare minister Kedar Kashyap, along with top officials, met Menon's wife Asha and briefed her about the latest developments in the case. The Orissa government has sealed its border with Chhattisgarh on Monday following reports that the Maoists who had kidnapped Sukma collector Alex Paul Menon might try to sneak into the forests of Malkangiri abutting the neighbouring state.

Highly placed sources said the borders with Chhattisgarh were sealed after intelligence inputs suggested that the Maoist abductors had crossed the Sabari river and might enter the Red corridor of Malkangiri, considered a safe hideout for the ultras.

'There are areas in Malkangiri where neither the police nor the paramilitary forces dare step into. The writ of the government does not run there.

'This is the same area where in February last year former Malkangiri collector Vineel Krishna was kidnapped and held captive by the Maoists,' a source said.





