Partha Biswas’s wife Barnali (top) and Saumajit Basu’s spouse Sankhatua and her son at Writers’ Buildings to meet the chief minister on Monday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

Oct. 25: Family members of intelligence official Partha Biswas and his friend Saumajit Basu, suspected to have been kidnapped by Maoists, today met the chief minister at Writers’ Buildings and urged him to make arrangements to rescue them.

The duo were taken hostage from Purulia’s Ayodhya Hills on Friday. Police are yet to trace them.

Biswas’s wife Barnali and Basu’s wife Sankhatua met Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in his chamber for half an hour. Some of their family members, including Basu’s two-year-old son, also accompanied them.

Transport minister Ranjit Kundu, who escorted the family members of the kidnapped duo to Bhattacharjee’s chamber, said: “The wives of Biswas and Basu have urged the chief minister to facilitate the duo’s return home. The chief minister told them the government was leaving no stone unturned to rescue them.”

Barnali, Sankhatua and the family members who accompanied them declined to speak to the media.

Before meeting the chief minister, the two women met Surajit Kar Purakayastha, the additional director-general of police (law and order).

Purakayastha said the police were making all possible efforts to rescue Biswas and his schoolteacher friend Basu, who is attached to an NGO working for tribals in rebel-hit areas.

The police officer said no Maoist had contacted the cops yet in connection with the abduction.

Z. Hassan, the inspector-general of police (western range), said: “We are waiting for a communication from the abductors.” Hassan has been camping in Purulia with other senior officers since yesterday.

The police have not conducted search operations since last morning because of lack of information on where the captors may be holding Biswas and Basu.

The Telegraph today visited three villages — Lukuichatani, Kalijharna and Chhatrajera — in the Ayodhya Hills and asked residents if they had seen Maoists bring in any hostages.

Showed the missing duo’s pictures that appeared in today’s paper, the villagers denied having ever seen the men.

On Saturday night, security forces had raided Borgora, Tilagora and Hedelbera villages in the Ayodhya Hills in search of the missing duo.

Hassan today held a series of meetings with senior police officers in Purulia town and reviewed the situation.

“We are trying to get information from our sources whether the hostages have been taken to Jharkhand,” a police officer said.

Students of Khanyan Kamarpara High School, where Basu teaches geography, today demonstrated on the institute’s playground with banners, demanding that he be released.

“We want our teacher to return to us,” said Prakriti Mullick, a Class VIII student.