Chhattisgarh: Abducted engineer’s wife, kids plead with Maoists to release him

RAIPUR: There is no trace yet of engineer Ashok Pawar, who was abducted by Maoists from a bridge construction site in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district three days ago. His wife released a video message on Saturday night to plead with the Maoists to release him.
“We have two daughters, who are requesting you to release their father,” Sonali Pawar says in a video message she has posted on social media.
Ashok and Sonali live in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh, with their two children. The engineer is with a private construction company and had come to Chhattisgarh less than a month before his abduction.
It was his work that brought him here, Sonali says in the video. “We came here 15-20 days ago to earn our livelihood. We will go back now. Please release my husband,” says Sonali.
Ashok’s daughters have been crying incessantly ever since they heard that “someone took away their father”. The children have also appealed to the Maoists to free their father. The younger daughter is seen crying in the video.
The firm Ashok works for has taken up the task of building a bridge over River Indravati in the Maoist-affected area. The construction site is in Bedre village in Bhairamgarh tehsil, a hard-to-reach hamlet around 40km from the district headquarters.
“Our search operation is on, but due to the sensitivity of the matter we cannot disclose any details,” said a senior police officer in Bijapur.
Engineer released after seven days
In November 2021, Maoists had kidnapped a PMGSY engineer who had gone to inspect a road construction site in Bijapur. The engineer’s wife, Arpita, had also released a video on social media to appeal to the Maoists and then went into the forest in a bold attempt to get him released. The Maoists released the engineer after seven days.