Bhubaneswar: A senior IAS officer in Orissa's Malkangiri district has been kidnapped by the Maoists. District Collector Ravella Vineel Krishna was kidnapped while he was returning after an interaction programme in Gumma block of tribal-dominated Malkangiri district.
The incident happened on Wednesday, just two days before Home Minister P Chidambaram's scheduled video-conference with the Collectors of 60 Maoist-hit districts. This is for the first time that the Maoists have kidnapped an IAS officer.
Malkangiri Additional SP A Das said there has been no communication with the Collector since Wednesday afternoon. Thirty-year-old Vineel Krishna, an IIT-Madras graduate, joined administrative service in 2005. Krishna was posted as the District Collector of Malkangiri 16 months ago. He is known to be popular with the local people and interacts closely with them.
Along with the District Collector, the Maoists had also kidnapped two junior engineers. One of them was freed on Wednesday itself. He was sent back with a note giving an ultimatum of 48 hours for the release of the Collector. The Maoists want Central forces to be withdrawn from Malkangiri.
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