The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday accused Malkangiri district collector R Vineel Krishna of having links with the Maoists while Congress reiterated its demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the abduction of the 30-year-old IAS officer on February 16.
The issue was raised in the Orissa assembly during the debate over budgetary demand of the home department.
"R Vineel Krishna was a member of All India Student Federation (AISF, the students' wing of CPI) and his father-in-law a former comrade of the Communist Party. His abduction by Maoists is, therefore, not above suspicion," BJP legislature party leader K V Singhdeo told the assembly.
"The Malkangiri district collector is in hand-in-glove with Maoists," Singhdeo alleged.
Krishna, along with a junior engineer, had been abducted on February 16 when he was on a visit to the remote Chitrakonda area in the district.
He was released on February 24 after three Maoist-chosen interlocutors held talks with the state government which conceded many of the Maoists' demands.
The engineer was released on the previous day. Krishna's wife wrote a letter to the Union Home Secretary after the abduction, Singhdeo claimed.
"Why none of Krishna's family members wrote or approached the state government and the chief minister"? the BJP leader said.
Reacting to ruling Biju Janata Dal members' reference to the Kandhahar Indian Airlines plane hijack incident of 1999, Singhdeo said "Orissa's present chief minister Naveen Patnaik was one of the members of the then Union cabinet that decided to exchange hostage".
The BJP leader also accused the chief minister of not consulting cabinet members before deciding to withdraw charges against certain Maoist leaders to ensure the release of Krishna and junior engineer Pabitra Majhi.
Raising doubts about the government's manner of handling the hostage crisis, Congress chief whip Prasad Harichandan demanded a reply from the chief minister on the progress in investigation into the abduction case filed at Chitrakonda police station in Malkangiri district.
"We demand a CBI inquiry into the abduction incident as many loose ends are now exposed," the leader of the opposition Bhupinder Singh of Congress said adding why Krishna had gone to the Maoist den without taking personal security officer.
NCP legislature party leader Amar Satpathy termed the hostage crisis as a lesson for the state. "I do not demand a CBI probe. But it must be properly investigated as the incident is an eye-opener for the state," Satpathy said.
Describing the Maoists as the "biggest threat" for the state, the chief minister, who replied to the debate, did not answer any of the questions raised by the opposition members. Patnaik instead highlighted activities of his department.
