Eid already in released cop Ehsan Khan’s village

RANCHI - Smiles returned to the faces of the wife and 80-year-old father of Ehsan Khan Monday and hundreds of people gathered near their home in Jharkhand when TV footage confirmed that the cop, who had been abducted by Maoists in Bihar over a week ago, had been released.

“Allah ki meharbani hai (It’s Allah’s wish). We are extremely happy,” Khan’s father told reporters. “We will celebrate Eid Monday, ahead of the real Eid, as my son is reaching home. “We are preparing for it already,” Ehsan’s father Mohiuddin Khan said.

A pall of gloom had descended on them Sunday evening when there were rumours that the cops had been released in the morning but the news was not confirmed. Khan’s family lives in Mandar block, around 40 km from Ranchi.

Ehsan Khan’s wife Farida Khanam said: “We are very happy. I cannot express my happiness. We will celebrate together and the celebrations this year will be different from previous years.”

Sweets have already been distributed as hundreds have gathered outside their house. Khan’s family will throw an Iftar party Monday evening to celebrate the release.

Khan along with three other policemen were abducted by Maoists after a six-hour gunfight in Bihar’s Lakhisarai Aug 29. But the bullet-riddled body of one of the cops, Lucas Tete, was found near a forest in Lakhisarai district.

The policemen had been abducted in Bihar after a gunbattle with Maoists in Lakhisarai Sunday.