Duley back home. (Amit Ukil)

Midnapore/Sarenga, March 9: Garlands, sweets and a new set of clothes awaited headmaster Ranjit Duley when he returned home today.

The welcome was planned by the family in the morning.

Duley, a school headmaster in Bankura, was abducted by the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities on March 5. Today, a throng of villagers was waiting when Duley stepped out of a police jeep in Saluka, his village. He was set free early today after his sons condemned a police raid, as asked by tribal committee leader Sidhu Soren.

Ranjit’s 72-year-old elder sister Gita stepped out of the house and garlanded him first, followed by his wife Kalpana. Both women wept and neighbours blew conch shells.

“This is a second life for my husband,” Kalpana said. Ranjit nodded. “Yes, this is a second life for me.”

He thanked the assembled journalists several times for “co-operating” to get him released. He said he felt “weak” and was “not feeling well”.

“After my release, doctors checked me and found my blood sugar and pressure to be high. So I cannot talk much,” Duley said.

For dinner, Kalpana had prepared alu posto, shim chochchori, dal and fish — Duley’s favourite dishes.

Around 1.30am today, Soren produced a blindfolded Duley before a group of journalists at the edge of a forest in West Midnapore’s Goaltore and handed him over to the media, just like Maoist leader Kishan had released Sankrail officer in-charge Atindranath Dutta. Like Dutta, Duley had a placard across his chest which said he had been kidnapped by the Sidhu Kanhu Gana Militia, which is part of the Maoist-backed tribal committee, and was now being released.

Soren claimed that “it was at his (Duley’s) instance that six persons were arrested by the police. But since this was his first mistake he is being released, especially since his family has been pleading for it. We have warned him and asked him to reform himself.”

Duley later said: “I have no role to play in the arrests.”

After Duley was released, the journalists took him to Lalgarh police station. He was taken to a primary health centre by the police and examined by doctors. He stayed at the police station till daybreak. He was then taken to the Midnapore Police Lines where he was questioned. The officers asked him if he could hear gun fire when the police and the Maoists had an encounter in the Bhalukbasa forest. Ranjit answered in the negative — an indication that he may have been held hostage elsewhere.