Sukma district collector Alex Paul Menon remains abducted. The mediators and Maoists met for first time in a bid to end the six-day-old hostage crisis.

The talks were inconclusive when they met for the first time yesterday. The mediators of the two sides called the three-hour talks at the Pahuna guest house here "positive".

A panel of legal experts also assisted in the deliberations, officials said. Ahead of the three-hour meeting, a special emissary who had handed over medicines to the 32-year-old IAS officer, an asthma patient, said his condition was stable.

A government mediator and former chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh Nirmala Buch told reporters after the talks that the discussions were "positive" and though there was no outcome, the government was confident about a quick resolution of the hostage crisis.