An armed group of Maoists kidnapped four Indian officials of a rural development project from Pirtand, 25km from the district headquarters of Giridih, late on Saturday night.

Those kidnapped included a young fellow of the prime minister’s rural development, Sai Vardhan Wansi. Mr Wansi was part of the team that had gone to rural areas of Naxalite-infested Pirtand region to oversee the implementation of Mahatama Gandhi national rural employment scheme and disbursement of old-age pension in some villages.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Arif Ekram said the incident took place at Peo village.

The Maoists initially held hostage five people, including the driver of the vehicle the officials were travelling in and took them into a forest. However, they released the driver along with the vehicle on Sunday morning.

Others abducted were identified as Shambhi Pandit, Maqsood Ansari and Chandradev.

The inspector general of Hazaribagh zone reached Giridih and discussed the strategy to seek safe release of officials. Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren issued an appeal to the Maoists, requesting them to release the officials unharmed.

Ashok Kumar Singh, general secretary of the Jharkhand non-gazetted employees association, threatened to go on an indefinite strike from Monday to press for early and safe release of the officials.

Two days ago, the Maoists had destroyed the panchayat office building at Peo with explosives and left Maoists literature at the scene, warning the government officials against exploitation of the villagers.

By arrangement with the Times of India