New Delhi/Raipur: Hours after reports of around 500 people being held "hostage" by Maoists in a Chhattisgarh village surfaced today, a senior police officer said such reports were a "fiction created by the media".
"Reports of 400-500 people being held are a fiction created by media," inspector general (IG) of Bastar I.G Kalluri told mediapersons.
He said: "only five to six people have been held by the Maoists. We are negotiating with them to free the people".
Meanwhile in Delhi, the home ministry also denied a hostage-like situation in the state.
"There is no hostage-like situation there. We have got the report that some labourers have gathered there at a construction site," home ministry spokesman Kuldeep Singh Dhatwalia said.
"We are in constant touch with the officials from Chhattisgarh", he added.
Earlier, media reports said around 500 people were on held captive by Maoists in Chattisgarh's Marenga village when they were on their way to attend prime minister Narendra Modi's rally in Dantewada district.
Marenga is 350 km from Chhattisgarh's capital Raipur and 150 fm from Dantewada.