Detained Italian Couple Let Off From Bonda Ghat In Malkangiri

Malkangiri: An Italian couple was rescued from the Bonda Ghat area in Odisha’s Malkangiri district on Saturday.

According to reports, the Italian tourist couple Indico Sesodi and Frank Sakha had gone to the Bonda Ghat area with an employee of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) on Saturday. However, the locals, seeing the two foreigners, informed the police and the district administration.

Following information, tehsildar of Khairput rushed to the area with a local police team and rescued the couple and handed them over to the Project Director, District Rural Development Agency (PD,DRDA) who let off the couple after collecting details.

“The Italian couple said that they had not obtained permission from the Home Department for their visit to the Bonda Ghat area. I told them that the state government has prohibited foreigners to visit the area due to the presence of Maoists. After collecting details from the couple, I let them off respectfully,” the PD,DRDA, Lingaraj Panda told the media.

It may be recalled that the state government had prohibited the entry of the foreigners to the Maoist-prone areas of Odisha after two Italian tourists, Paolo Bosusco (who runs an adventure holiday company in Odisha) and Claudio Colangelo (a doctor from Rome) were abducted by Maoists on March 14, 2012 and kept them as hostages. However, they released Colangelo on March 25 and Bosusco on April 12.

Following the incident, the state government had made a mandatory provision for foreign tourists to seek permission before visiting the Maoist-prone areas of the state.