Reds abduct 4 in Gaya dist

GAYA: Heavily armed Maoists on Sunday raided Parsawan village under the Raushanganj police station in Gaya district and abducted four villagers, three of them activists of the Sangharsh Samiti formed for the construction of a bridge over Morhar, a seasonal river criss-crossing the district. The abducted men are Umesh Prasad, Manoj Prasad, Manoj Kumar and Chandrika Prajapat.Maoists are opposed to the bridgeconstruction as it will facilitate faster police movement in the area, claimedby the Maoists to be part of the so-called 'liberatedzone'.According to reports reaching here, the Maoists are also cutup with the villagers following their refusal to extend hospitality to themembers of the People's Liberation Army, the fighting squad of the bannedorganization. Maoists expect lavish hospitality as a matter of right and thereported refusal of the villagers was taken as a challenge to their authority bythe Maoists.Gaya SSP Vinay Kumar said it would not be proper at thisstage to reveal the police strategy to secure the release of the four villagersand bring the extremists to justice. A general red alert has been sounded on theeve of the Independence Day and police officers have been directed to takeeffective steps for 'area domination' in the region, said theSSP.However, sources sais the family members of the abducted men donot want the police to intervene at this stage as it may endanger the lives ofthe villagers taken captive. Villagers are believed to have established contactwith the rebels to secure their release.Such abductions, accordingto Maoist watchers, are quite common in the region and in most cases the Maoistsrelease the abducted men after giving warning and securing promise ofcooperation in future. In some cases, corporal or financial punishment too isinflicted on the captives before their release.