Bhubaneswar, April 19: Anxiety mounted here with the Maoist captors of BJD MLA Jhina Hikaka keeping everyone guessing about the outcome of the people’s court they held deep inside the forests of Narayanpatna in Koraput district today.

Sources said that Hikaka, who was taken captive on March 24 from Toyapeta area of Koraput, was made to run the gauntlet at the kangaroo court, which is the Maoist’s way of delivering “justice”.

“Tribals drawn from nearby villages threw questions at the MLA fast and furious. The queries ranged from what the Odisha government had done for their development to its stand on the demands for the jailed rebels,” said a source refusing to reveal the location of the court whose proceedings began in the morning and continued well past noon.

All this while local mediapersons waited with bated breath at Balipeta village in Narayanpatna where the rebels had earlier promised to exchange the MLA with the 29 undertrial prisoners whose release they have been demanding. However, there was no definite information about the fate of Hikaka till late in the evening.

The people’s court was held a day after the Odisha government announced that it would consider withdrawal of cases against 13 prisoners if the rebels released Hikaka. However, the government’s stand was rejected by the rebels who said they had lost faith in the official machinery.

The Maoist’s lawyer, Nihan Ranjan Patnaik, confirmed the holding of the people’s court, but had no idea of what decisions were being taken there. He, however, said that statements made by the legislator and the local tribals had been recorded.

The deadline set by the Maoists for the government to meet their demands expired yesterday. The government failed to elicit a positive response from the rebels despite bowing down to their demands and promising consideration of cases against 13 Maoist and Chasi Muliya Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) activists for withdrawal.

Home secretary U.N. Behera today said that five Maoists and Sangh activists had been granted bail though the bail petition of rebel leader Arati Majhi was rejected once again by the Gajpati district and sessions court. He said the government had advised Arati to apply for bail in Orissa high court.

Arati, 22, was admitted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital, Berhampur, today following complaints of vomiting and diarrhoea. The rebel leader was arrested on February 10, 2010.

District and session’s judge B.N. Mishra had recently rejected her earlier plea in two cases relating to burning of Odisha Road Transport Corporation buses in December 28, 2009, near Raipanka in Gajapati district.

Her name figured in the list of rebels sought to be released by the Maoists in exchange for Italian tourist Paolo Bosusco. The Odisha government had also agreed to facilitate her release.