Bijapur: A sub-engineer in Chhattisgarh was released by Maoists on Wednesday, almost a week after he and a government peon were abducted, while they were surveying an under-construction road at Bastar region in insurgency-hit Bijapur district at 12:30 PM. Sub-engineer Ajay Lakra (35) and peon Lakshman Partagiri (24) had gone missing on November 11th. Ajay Lakra works for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY). While the peon was released last week, the sub-engineer was held captive by the Maoists.
Following a ‘Jan Adalat’, Ajay Lakra was released today at Gangloor Road in the afternoon, a senior police officer said. During the release, his wife Arpita Lakra was also present. However, it is still not clear whether Lakra was assaulted or threatened by the Naxals, he said, adding that the sub-engineer will be subjected to medical examination once he reaches the district headquarters. For nearly a week, journalists civil society groups and his wife Arpita working in the Bastar region were pursuing Maoists to release the sub-engineer.
Lakra and his department’s peon Lakshman Partagiri went missing when they had gone to conduct a survey of a road being built on a 15-km stretch between Bijapur town and Gorna-Mankell. As the duo did not return to Bijapur district headquarter the next day, a search was launched and later, the police confirmed that they had been abducted by Naxals from Kanhaiguda village. However, Partagiri was freed by Naxals on November 12th after the abduction.