Two get life term for 2011 abduction of Malkangiri collector

BHUBANESHWAR: A lower court in Odisha has recommended life imprisonment for two people accused of kidnapping R Vineel Krishna, a former collector, five years ago.

Additional district judge of Malkangiri, the state’s southernmost district, on Tuesday found allegedly Maoist tribal woman Marri Kussi, or ‘Divya’, and village-level government worker Tapan Saha guilty of conspiring and kidnapping Krishna, then collector of Malkangiri, in 2011. The court acquitted a third arrested on account of lack of evidence.

Krishna, a 2005 batch Odisha cadre officer, is back in Odisha after a stint at the Centre as PS to former rural affairs minister Jairam Ramesh. He is currently heading a special purpose vehicle created to make Bhubaneshwar a smart city, and is also managing director of state mining firm Odisha Mining Corporation.

Krishna and a junior engineer were abducted by a group of left wing extremists while visiting a village to check the progress of a development work.