Maoists today released Odisha legislator Jhina Hikaka in the state's Koraput district after holding him captive for more than a month.
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Reporters and photographers surrounded a relieved and healthy looking Hikaka as he came with a group of villagers to a mango garden at Balipeta, over 500 km from here, at about 10.30 am.u00a0
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Emotions ran high when the 37-year-old Biju Janata Dal (BJD) legislator, wearing a green kurta, hugged his wife Kaushalya and seconds after both broke down in tears.u00a0
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Freedom at last:u00a0Biju Janata Dal legislator Jhina Hikaka u00a0(File photo)
"We're glad that he is safe and unharmed," party colleague Baijayant Panda told reporters.
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The left-wing extremists, who kidnapped Hikaka from Laxmipur in Koraput March 24, had Wednesday announced that a 'praja', people's, court decided to release him after he apologised to the rebels and the local villagers.
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A Maoist leader calling herself 'Aruna', in an audio message aired by a local television channel here, had said the decision to release him was taken after he promised to resign from the assembly and the primary membership of the ruling BJD.
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