Maoists abduct Chhattisgarh collector, kill two guards

Raipur, April 21 (IANS) Maoist rebels Saturday abducted the Sukma district collector in Chhattisgarh and shot dead his two guards who tried to resist them, police said.

Alex Paul Menon, 32, an Indian Administrative Service officer of the 2006 batch, was abducted by the guerrillas from a government-function organised in an interior belt, some 500 km south of state capital Raipur, said officials at the police headquarters here.

The Maoists, who were present at the function in plain clothes, walked up to the collector around 4.45 p.m. and tried to take him with them. When Menon's two guards tried to resist them, the rebels shot them dead, an official said.

The collector was taken to a forested area, police said.

Chhattisgarh's Director General of Police Anil M. Navaney convened an emergency meeting here on the issue.

--Indo-Asian News service

suj/rah/dg