Prashant Layek with his family in Ghatshila after he was released by Maoists on Friday evening. Hours before, chief minister Shibu Soren, who had agreed to all the demands of the rebels to ensure the safe release of the Dalbhumgarh BDO, sought the blessings of yoga guru Baba Ramdev who was in the state capital. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi/Jamshedpur, Feb. 19: Abducted Dalbhumgarh BDO was set free by Maoists today in dramatic fashion, handed over to two journalists, bringing to an end a six-day ordeal for the Soren government which had agreed to all their demands for the safe return of 34-year-old Prashant Layek.

Layek was handed over to two journalists belonging to Prabhat Khabar, a local Hindi daily, at Hadyan School, around 150km from Jamshedpur at 6.30pm on a day Ghatshila was near paralysed by an East Singhbhum bandh called by the rebels to pressure the government.

Home secretary J.B. Tubid confirmed Layek’s release, saying he had been handed over to the two journalists, but clarified the state government hadn’t set free any of the 14 undertrials as demanded by the rebels.

“We haven’t released anybody in exchange for the BDO. We have got permission from the court to re-investigate cases and will take it up in right earnest,” he told The Telegraph.

East Singhbhum SP Naveen Kumar Singh, who escorted Layek from Ghurabandha, presented him to a group of waiting journalists in Ghatshila.

The BDO, who looked shaken, said he wasn’t aware of the negotiations going on between the government and the Naxalites. “I am happy that I have been reunited with my family,” he said.

According to Anuj Kumar Sinha, one of the two journalists, Maoists had sent word that they wanted to hand over the BDO to someone from the local Hindi daily. “Soon, we got in touch with the state government which permitted us to go ahead,” he said.

Sinha said five Maoists brought the BDO around 6pm at the school while other armed rebels surrounded the area strategically. “Soon after he was handed over to us, the BDO rang up his wife,” he said.

Later, the East Singhbhum SP met them at Ghurabandha and took the BDO under his wing.

The BDO, local sources said, had been held hostage at Dangra Pahar and Pawra Pahar — two hills in the jungles of Ghurabandha, which the CRPF had been scouring for the last few days.

Sinha quoted Layek as saying that the Maoists had treated him well. They even gave him a pair of slippers as he didn’t have time to wear one at the time of his abduction.

Tubid confirmed this too. “But the BDO couldn’t eat much even though food was prepared by villagers regularly,” he added.

Soon after the BDO’s release, his wife Julie Bharti said, “I am happy that my husband has been returned by the Maoists. They addressed me as ‘sister’ while talking on the phone on February 16 and they have maintained the brother-sister relationship.”

But, several police officers, now waiting for the launch of a planned offensive against the rebels, weren’t happy at the way the Soren government bowed to the rebels’ demands.

“The government’s climbdown will provoke more kidnappings of civilians in order to force the government not to join the interstate offensive against the Maoists,” maintained a senior police officer.

State Congress spokesman Radha Krishna Kishore said Soren mortgaged the constitutional values and danced to the tunes of the Maoists. “The state has lost an IPS officer, one MP and one MLA, besides a large number of sub-inspectors and constables to Naxalite violence over the years. So, instead of succumbing to the pressure tactics, he should have demonstrated the state’s prowess to get the BDO released,” he maintained.

Layek was abducted from the Dalbhumgarh block office on February 13.

The state police launched a combing operation, but kept alive channels of communication as the rebels had demanded the release of 14 undertrials, who they claimed had been unfairly detained in Ghatshila jail for over two years.

Within the next 48 hours, the Soren government agreed to reopen the cases against the 14 and even launched the required judicial process on February 16.

But the very next day, sensing that Soren was on the defensive, Maoists put up some fresh demands and said they would release Layek only if the chief minister issued a statement accepting all their demands, including the unconditional release of the 14 undertrials.

Soren did that at a late evening news conference, saying that the judicial process to free the 14 had been set in motion. He, however, remained quiet on the new demands.