Subhashree Panda after her acquittal on Tuesday. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, April 10: The Maoist deadline for the government to meet their demands expired today coinciding with the acquittal of one of their leaders in an encounter case. However, that offered little hope for the release of the two hostages.

Subhashree Panda, wife of CPI (Maoist) state organisingcommittee secretary Sabyasachi Panda, was discharged by a fast track court in Gunpur in the Kutringa encounter case of 2003 for lack of evidence. Sabyasachi has been holding Italian tour operator Paolo Bosusco hostage since March 14.

Subhashree is one of the seven Maoist leaders and activists whose release Sabyasachi had sought in his 13-point charter of demands submitted to the state government through the two rebel-backed mediators — Jan Adhikar Manch convenor Dandpani Mohanty and forest rights activist B.D. Sharma.

While Sabyasachi, who has been dictating terms to the government from his hideout in the Kandhmal forests, may not even be aware of his wife’s acquittal by now, he made his displeasure evident on the state’s attitude towards the hostage crisis through a fresh audio message sent to some media houses here.

Saying that the government had so far agreed to release only three of the seven rebel leaders he had named, Sabyasachi said he was yet to receive the joint statement signed by the two mediators and the three IAS officers who recently discussed the hostage issue in Bhubaneswar. “Let them make clear how many persons they are going to release and which of our 13 demands they are going to meet,” he said.

The government has taken steps to send the joint statement to Panda with the BDO of Daringbadi, Manoj Kumar Swain, saying that local couriers had been dispatched to deliver copies of the statement to the Maoist leader.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik reiterated his appeal to the captors of Paolo Bosusco and BJD legislator Jhina Hikaka to release them unharmed while naming the difficulties in releasing the 27 persons the government had promised to set free in exchange for them. “Certain legal procedures are to be followed for the release of the detainees,” he said.

Home secretary U.N. Behera, who led the government at the recently-concluded talks with the rebel-chosen mediators, said the detainees whose release the rebels were seeking, were yet to file their bail petitions and that was a procedural necessity. Behera said he was aware of Subhashree’s acquittal but there were other cases pending against her.

“Don’t think that I have been discharged under any pressure. I knew I was innocent from the beginning. It’s the victory of law,” Subhashree said.

Reports from Koraput said Balipeta village, where the rebels have proposed to swap the abducted MLA with the detained Maoist leaders and Chasi Muliya Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) activists, was being swathed with red flags and banners. The Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee of the Maoists had, in an audio message on Sunday, invited the MLA’s wife, the two mediators and a lawyer to the village along with the detainees, whose release the rebels are seeking.

Till the time of going to press, there was no news of any one going to the village or any exchange taking place.