Body in police uniform found near Bihar forest (Second Lead)

PATNA - A body in police uniform was found near a forest in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district early Friday, a day after the Maoists said they had killed abducted Sub Inspector Abhay Kumar Yadav, media reports said. The police have not yet identified the body.

According to local news channels, the body was found near Simratali forest under Chanan police station in Lakhisarai.

Villagers have reportedly said that Maoists have left a hand-written poster near the body, warning that they would not talk with the government any more.

A police team has gone to identify the body as top police officials, including Bihar police chief Neelmani, Thursday night denied that Yadav was killed, officials said.

Yadav was said to have been killed at around 4 p.m. Thursday, six hours after the expiry of the Maoists’ second deadline of 10 a.m. The killing took place following a decision by a ‘jan adalat’ or kangaroo court, a Maoist spokesman had said.

Yadav was one of the four Bihar policemen kidnapped by Maoists after a six-hour gunfight in Lakhisarai district Sunday.

The gunbattle left seven policemen dead and 10 injured. Maoists claimed the gunfight was in retaliation for the killing of their leader Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad and a journalist on the night of July 1-2 in Andhra Pradesh.

The Maoists said the policemen would be killed unless eight jailed Maoist leaders were released.

After claiming to have killed Yadav, the Maoists had threatened that the fate of the remaining three policemen would be decided by 10 a.m. Friday if the state government failed to initiate a dialogue or negotiate with them.

Avinash, a self-proclaimed Maoist spokesman, told a local TV news channel: “The Bihar government compelled us to kill Yadav as the second deadline expired.”

The other three kidnapped policemen are Rupesh Kumar Sinha, Lukas Gete and Ehsan Khan. The families of the policemen have been desperately pleading with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for help.

The Maoists have also warned the Bihar government of more attacks if the operations against the rebels did not stop immediately.

Security forces have fanned out in the hilly terrains in Lakhisarai and its adjoining Jamui and Munger districts to rescue the policemen.