Deadline gone, 3 abducted cops still missing

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said, on Sunday, that he had no information 'from any administrative quarter' of the three policemen held hostage by Maoists being set free.

The statement came on a day of high drama set off by a local TV channel showing a man masquerading as 'Kishenji' visiting the house of Abhay Yadav in Sahebpur Kamal in Khagraia in the morning and informing his wife Kanti that all three hostages had been 'set free'.

The footage sparked hope in administrative and public circles, but fizzled out by afternoon, as the operational in-charges in Lakhisarai reported no sightings of the hostages even by late evening. Rumours then started that the hostages would not be released early.

Munger divisional commissioner, Lallan Singh, told HT, "We have no information of release of hostages. It looks like the handiwork of some people with vested interests".