Maoists kill 1 cop, 3 others face same fate

Maoists claimed to have killed one of four kidnapped Bihar policemen, Sub-Inspector Abhay Yadav, after their deadline for the release of eight rebels currently in jail expired at 10 a.m. Thursday. With Yadav, Maoists had kidnapped Sub-Inspector Rupesh Kumar Sinha and two Bihar Military Police men

after a gunbattle on Sunday in Kajra hills of Lakshisarai district, about 100 km from here. Seven policemen were killed in the battle.A self-proclaimed Maoist spokesman, Avinash, told the media Yadav was dead although state police chief Neelmani said there was no evidence of this.

Maoist spokesman Avinash, in telephone calls to local TV channel Sadhna and some journalists, said Sub-Inspector Abhay Prasad Yadav had been killed. He warned that they would kill the remaining three policemen — SI Rupesh Kumar Sinha, BMP Jamadar Lucas Tete and BMP Havildar Ehsan Ahmed — if the Bihar government did not release eight Maoists by Friday.

In a gunbattle in Lakhisarai that lasted nearly 12 hours on Sunday, Maoists killed eight policemen and abducted four. Thirty of 38 districts in state are Maoist-affected.Bihar police spokesperson P K Thakur told The Indian Express: “So far, we have no confirmation of SI Abhay Yadav’s murder. We still have no knowledge of a deadline. Our job is to rescue our men. There is no change in our stand.