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Bhubaneswar: Thousands of people in Orissa on Wednesday anxiously awaited for the arrival of a district collector and a junior engineer kidnapped by Maoists last week after a mediator said they will be released, officials said.

G. Haragopal, the mediator, said Tuesday night that they will be released within 48 hours.

People from various walks of life, including women, children and media persons thronged the official residence of the district collector at Malkangiri town, about 618 km from here, to see if the hostages were back.

Although large number of people stayed in front of the house for over 12 hours, officials said the duo have not reached till Wednesday morning.

'They have not arrived yet,' a senior district police officer told IANS from Malkangiri. According to local television channels the hostages were freed and are on their way to the district headquarters.

But officials in Bhubaneswar did not confirm this. 'Unless we see the officials physically we cannot confirm it,' a senior district administrative official said.

Haragopal, one of the three mediators chosen by the rebels, Tuesday night said they were working on the modalities that the hostages are back and the arrival of the hostages could take time because of some logistic issues.

Malkangiri District Collector R. Vineel Krishna and junior engineer Pabitra Mohan Majhi were abducted by the Maoists Feb 16. The Maoists, in a letter to the government, listed as many as 14 demands for the safe release of the two hostages.

Orissa: Abducted collector to be released in 48 hours

The demands included halting anti-Maoist operations by security forces, release of all political prisoners, scrapping of accords with multi-national companies for land transfer and projects, and compensation for the families of Maoist sympathisers killed in police custody.

Orissa hostage crisis: Government agrees to eight of 14 demands

The government agreed to all the demands after holding negotiations for three days in the state capital with the three mediators - Dandapani Mohanty, academicians G. Haragopal and R. Someswar Rao, chosen by the Maoists.

The crowd hung about, and increased, without any apparent reason. Lingering in the street in front of the guesthouse of the Dar-ul-Uloom, the few who talked did so in hushed tones. Others walked around the blue Tata Indigo car parked in front of the building, looking for clues about the identity of the latest visitor.

Except for the ‘mediawallahs’, the tea and jalebi stalls were virtually empty. The crowd stared at them, and those who talked to them.

Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting of the Shoora to decide the fate of Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, the Vice-Chancellor of one of the most influential Islamic seminaries, the common people of Deoband have given unto themselves a gag order.

Four of the 18 members of the Shoora had reached Deoband at the time of filing the report. Thirteen is the quorum for the meeting to take place. Vastanvi, along with his primary backer Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, was scheduled to reach Deoband from Delhi later in the evening.

At about 4 pm, the crowd moved towards the end of the street. There, a man was distributing free copies of the Khabardaar Khadeed, a Urdu weekly. Soon, groups of people had formed on the street, with those who knew how to read the language reading out loud from the weekly.

Everyone was interested in the reports about the verdict in the Sabarmati Express burning case. The centre-spread was about the Dar-ul-Uloom, with a photo of V-C Vastanvi. Everyone skipped the page. They disbursed soon after.

Everyone was interested in the reports about the verdict in the Sabarmati Express burning case. The centre-spread was about the Dar-ul-Uloom, with a photo of V-C Vastanvi. Everyone skipped the page. They disbursed soon after.

Earlier in the day, Maulana Arshad Madani ruled himself out of contention for the post of the V-C. “I am not interested in becoming the Vice-Chancellor,” he said, insisting that the controversy was an internal affair of the seminary that should be left to the Shoora to sort out.

“He has said that he will modernise the Uloom. If that happens, they will start canteens inside, students will not come out and eat from here,” said a shopkeeper explaining the rationale behind his opposition to Vastanvi.