Maoists free abducted Chhattisgarh cops

Maoists on Thursday night freed the four abducted policemen in a dense forest of Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district after keeping them hostage for 12 days, a senior police officer said.

"All four cops have been freed and handed over to local mediapersons who had been mediating for their release," Dantewada district's Senior Superintendent of Police S R P Kalluri told PTI.

He said Assistant Sub-inspector Sukhram Bhagat and Constables B Toppo, Narendra Bhosle and Subhash Patre were released deep inside a forest in Bijapur at around 2030 hours and were being escorted back by the journalists to his office.

The policemen were kidnapped by the Naxals from Bijapur district, which borders Andhra Pradesh, on September 19.

The Maoists, among other things, had demanded an end to the security forces anti-Naxal campaign Operation Green Hunt and release of a few villagers in return for the freedom for the abducted cops.

Senior officials told PTI that mediapersons and social activists had mediated in the talks with the ultras for the safe release of the policemen.