Two days after top Orissa Maoist Sabyasachi Panda’s wife was freed by a court in Koraput, the Maoists released Italian tour operator Bosusco Paulo on Thursday after nearly a month in captivity. However, the fate of Biju Janata Dal MLA Jhina Hikaka is still uncertain, with the rebel faction that kidnapped him insisting that the Odisha government meet all their demands without negotiations. Paulo, 54, who has lived in Odisha for the past two decades, said upon his release that Maoists must give up violence. He said he had tense moments and was scared when he heard the rebels discussing whether or not they should kill him. The Italian’s freedom came five days after the government and its interlocutors, B D Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty, signed a “jointly agreed press statement” on fulfilling 13 of the abductors’ demands. Chief minister (CM) Naveen Patnaik said the government felt unburdened after Paolo’s release. Home secretary U N Behera said action would be taken against Paolo if it was found that he had committed any offence by ignoring official advice in visiting extremist-dominated forests. The Italian said although he was happy to get back his freedom, he was sad to see the Maoists’ “hard life”. The Italian denied taking “objectionable photographs” of tribals, which Maoists had alleged was the reason they had kidnapped him. He said he was on a four-day trek when the guerillas took him away. He also said his work in India was over and that he was heading back to Italy where he plans to write a book on his abduction and the Maoists. His family members said they were happy to know he was freed. The Panda-led Maoist faction had demanded the release of at least seven people in exchange for Paolo, whom they kidnapped, along with his compatriot Claudio Colangelo, from southern Odisha’s Kandhamal-Ganjam region on March 14. Colangelo, who was unwell, was released on March 25. Panda told a private news channel that the Italians were not their “enemy”, but the Maoists captured him to protest against the government’s policies. Unlike Colangelo (61), who was produced at a local police station in Ganjam, Paolo was brought straight to the state guesthouse here, where ambassador Giacome Saintfelice Di Monteforte and other Italian diplomats met him. Although the Odisha government has agreed to free 23 prisoners in exchange for Jina Hikaka, the kidnappers are demanding freedom for at least five more jailed Maoist cadres, including top rebel leader Chenda Bhusanam, and have also rejected negotiations.
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