‘I am happy that Vinnu is freed’

Yarlagadda Sailaja, Aunt of Malkangiri Collector Vineel Krishna and family members made celebrations at her residence in Hyderabad after Vinnu freed from Maoist's captive

After eight days in captivity in deep jungles of Naxal infested area, R Vineel Krishna is now looking forward for his trip to Hyderabad, in about 10 days from now. Once in Hyderabad, Vinnu, as he is fondly known, is likely to be ''grilled'' thoroughly by his family members who are waiting for the limelight over his abduction to fade away, so they can sit with him and share his experience while in custody of Maoists.

“We will be bringing Vinnu to Hyderabad in the next 10 days, once he is declared fit and healthy by doctors there.He is down with severe fever and suffering from diarrhoea,” said an excited Yarlagadda Sailaja, Vineel Krishna's aunt, who along with other relatives will start for Malkangiri tomorrow morning.

Though Vineel Krishna was released today, celebrations in Sailaja's home at Gokhale Nagar in Ramanthapur began yesterday itself with relatives distributing sweets to any visitor to their house, the moment they got indication about his release.

Known to be a bookworm, Krishna is eager to meet his sister-in-law Deepika, who has come from the USA. Incidentally, she landed in Hyderabad and proceeded to Vijayawada one day before Vineel was abducted. 

“It was Deepika who had first informed me about Vinnu's abduction as she first saw the newsbreak on television.Since she could not have directly informed Vinnu's parents, she informed me,” recalled Sailaja. 

Recalling old days, V Madhavi, another relative said that Vineel spends more money on books.''When Vinnu was rewarded `10,000 by his college management for topping his college, he spent all the money in purchasing books" said Madhavi indicating that Vineel will immerse himself in books once he is here besides spending quality time with family members.Going by his nature, he may not stick around for more time and would be eager to join work. His interest lies in meeting and solving problems of tribals in his district which he has been doing ever since he was posted as Collector there 16 months ago,'' said Sailaja.

Answering innumerable telephone calls from friends and relatives, Sailaja, who was under trauma over the last eight days, finally smiled as the news of his release broke on the TV channels."Yesterday, I got the news from my sister who is in Malkangiri.She told me Vinnu is being shifted to a nearby hospital.The Orissa government is also making sure to provide better medical facilities,'' Sailaja says, her face glowing while other relatives V Madhavi and Y Saradyuthi were busy attending calls.

"Vinnu and his staff used to travel into dense forests to meet and solve problems of tribals. He brought electricity to to 25 villages, bringing happiness in lives of villagers," says Sailaja, who is the assistant station director of Doordarshan. She adds his meritorious service and prayers and blessings of all led to Vineel Krishna's release.

Vineel Krishna, native of Kuchipudi near Tenali in Guntur district and born  in Hyderabad he was AP topper in Civils and 2005 batch IAS officer from Andhra Pradesh were freed from the custody of Maoist today. The hostages had been kept in two different locations in dense forests of Orissa.Krishna and junior engineer Pabitra Majhi were abducted from Chitrakonda area of Malkangiri on February 16. 

By Mouli Mareedu

moulimareedu@gmail.com