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Villagers held captive by Maoists in Chhattisgarh, but police dispute

by IBNS 09 May 2015, 10:51 am

Raipur, May 9 (IBNS) As Narendra Modi visits the extremist hotbed of Bastar in Chhattisgarh on Saturday for the first time as Prime Minister, Maoists have reportedly held captive several villagers 80 km away from the venue of the PM's rally.

Police, however, denied the report.

Media reports said the captives are the villagers of Maringa in Sukma district.

The  act is believed to be aimed at stopping the villagers from attending Modi's rally.

Police officials have denied any hostage crisis in the area. "There is no hostage like situation. Naxals are only meeting the villagers," reports quoted  Superintendent of police Sukma D Sharavan as saying.

"This 'meeting has been going on since last night. No demands have been made from the Naxals yet. It is also being said that the Naxals do not want the villagers to attend Modi's rally and are thus holding them hostage," he said.

During his visit, Modi is scheduled to inaugurate two projects in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh including a steel plant in Dil-mili village. The other project is the second phase of a 140 km railway line from Raigarh to Jagdalpur. Congress has been protesting against Modi's visit.

Boycotting Modi's visit, Moaists have called a two-day "Dandakaranya bandh" on May 8 and 9.

According to official reports, more than  15,000 security officials have been deployed for Modi's visit. The road which  Modi will take has been sanitized.