The CPI-Maoists have reportedly demanded the release of their eight colleagues lodged in various jails of Bihar by Wednesday evening failing which they would kill the four policemen kidnapped during the Lakhisarai encounter. Ten policemen were killed in the encounter that took place on Sunday.

The Maoists also want the state government to immediately remove police deployment from Kodasi hills.

Though the Maoists haven’t yet contacted the police, they have spoken to some local news channels,

One Avinash, who claimed to be the Maoist spokesperson for Lakhisarai, Munger and Jamui, called up local news channels over the last 24 hours. and demanded immediate release of their eight commanders, including Jaipaswan, Vijay Chourasia, Prem Bhuiyan and Pramod Barnwal, by 4 pm on Wednesday.

Avinash also confirmed the death of one of their commanders, Ratan Yadav, in the encounter, and claimed to have taken away 35 police weapons.

Bihar police spokesperson ADGP P K Thakur confirmed to The Indian Express that four policemen — sub-inspectors Abhay Prasad Yadav and Rupesh Kumar Sinha from Lakhisarai district police, Civil Jamadar Lucas Tete and Havildar Ehsan Ahmed from Bihar Military Police -10 — had not yet returned from the Lakhisarai jungles to the base camp after the operations on Sunday. Thakur, however, said no senior police officer monitoring the combing operations have yet got any call from the Maoists.

“We too have heard about the Maoist demand through the media. It can be a hoax. Our prime concern now is to track down four policemen besides nabbing Maoists. There is no question of removing deployment from the jungles,” said ADGP Thakur.

A BSF helicopter and a combined team of COBRA battalion of CRPF, Special Task Force, Special Auxiliary Police, Bihar Military Police and state police have been combing Kodasi jungles on hilly areas of Lakhisarai, Munger and Jamui.

The ADGP said revealing the locations of the missing policemen was inappropriate at the moment. The district SP is in constant touch with the families of missing sub-inspectors, he added.

Sub-Inspector at Town Police station of Lakhisarai Nutan Sinha, a friend of captive SI Rupesh Kumar Sinha, said: “I had called up Rupesh around 2.30 pm on Sunday, five hours after he had left for the anti-Naxal operation. Somebody else picked up the call and the person did not answer my queries. The phone was switched off later.” Rupesh, 28, had got his first posting in Lakhisarai in March this year after finished his training at Bhagalpur. Rupesh, a resident of Betiah, is the only son of a retired circle inspector.