No hidden deal with Maoists, cases to be reviewed, says interlocutor

Bhopal, May 5(ANI): Chhattisgarh's mediator for Maoists, Nirmala Buch said on Saturday that there was no hidden deal between the two sides while securing the release of abducted Sukma District Collector Alex Paul Menon.

Addressing a news conference here, Buch said that the reports of a secret deal with Maoists to release few more militants were not true.

"The agreement was signed on April 30, in which both sides were signatories, and then again on May 03. Some people said that there is some hidden deal in between. Just because many think that the committee is involved in this, I am clarifying the matter," she said.

Buch, a former Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh, said the special committee formed under her on May 03 would look into cases of all the persons languishing in jails due to suspected Maoist militancy.

"The High Powered Standing Committee will look into all the prisoners who have been locked up for a long time. The committee was formed in the evening of May 03 and we also had a meeting at about 9 pm then. We held another sitting for the next day on May 04," she said.

Buch added that special procedures would be undertaken to look into the matter of the tribals imprisoned for long.

"The committee has decided that for the cases that will be put before it, special proformas would be provided to them having all the information about the person, his cause of punishment, time period of his or her imprisonment, medical report, the views of the jail warden and also the decision of the High Court in the matter," she said.

The Maoists had released Menon on Thursday (May 03) after holding him captive for 12 days. (ANI)