Maoists today unconditionally released the three abducted Bihar policemen in Lakhisarai district, bringing an end to the nine-day-old hostage crisis.

Sub-inspectors Abhay Prasad Yadav and Rupesh Kumar Sinha, and Bihar Military Police haviladar Ehshan Khan were set free near Simra Rari, 165 km from here, on the border of Chanan- Kajra forests and hills in Lakhisarai district this morning, the same spot where the bullet-ridden body of the fourth hostage, BMP ASI Lucas Tete, was found on Friday morning.

"All the three kidnapped policemen have been released by the Maoists after the police sealed their escape routes in the forests and hills," Director General of Police Neelmani told PTI.

The three were taken to a police station in Lakhisarai town by Superintendent of Police Ranjit Kumar Mishra, he said, adding the freed policemen later headed for their homes.

The Maoists had initially set a condition that eight ultras -- Jai Paswan, Vijay Chourasia, Prem Bhuiyan, Pramod Barnawal, Ramvilas Tanti, Ramesh Tirkie, Arjun Koda and Rattu Koda, be released from jail in exchange for releasing the three policemen. Later, they agreed to free them on 'humanitarian grounds'.

The release brought back smiles on the faces of the family members of the three policemen. The mother of SI Rupesh Kumar Sinha had fallen ill from shock and had to be hospitalised soon after the kidnapping.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad said, "It seems that the Maoists released the hostages on humanitarian grounds. I don't know what the police and the state government did about it."

LJP supremo Ramvilas Paswan said, "Nitish Kumar and his government have been a failure in tackling the hostage crisis."

Stating that the release had taken place on humanitarian grounds when the policemen were left at the mercy of the Maoists, Paswan said the government cannot take credit for it.

Official sources said the three policemen were examined by a team of doctors at a police station in Lakhisarai town.

"They are medically fit, hale and hearty," they said.

Senior police officials, including IG (operations) K S Dwivedi, met the policemen at the police station and enquired about details of their captivity, they said.

Families of the three policemen had an agonising wait yesterday when the Maoists had claimed to have released them but the state government said it had no information about them.

The Maoists had last night again stated that the hostages would be freed today.

Seven policemen were killed and ten others injured during a fierce encounter with Maoists in Sitlakodasi forest under Kajra police station in Lakhisarai district on August 29. The ultras had also kidnapped the four policemen.

The Maoists had on Tuesday issued an ultimatum to the state government that they would kill hostages if it failed to release their eight jailed colleagues -- Jai Paswan, Vijay Chourasia, Prem Bhuiyan, Pramod Barnawal, Ramvilas Tanti, Ramesh Tirkie, Arjun Koda, and Rattu Koda.

Avinash, a self-proclaimed spokesman for the Maoists, had then informed media offices that the ultras had killed SI Abhay Yadav following expiry of the deadline, but the police had recovered the bullet-ridden body of BMP ASI Tete from Singrishi dam's Smra Tari forest in Lakhisarai district.

It had forced the Chief Minister to offer safe passage to the representatives of the Maoists coming for talks on the crisis.

Kumar convened an all-party meeting on Saturday that had evolved a consensus asking the Maoists to release the three hostages unconditionally.

Avinash had soon after the appeal from the all party meeting, told local media offices in Jamui that the central committee of the ultra-left wing had rejected the offers for talks and decided to release the hostages unconditionally on "humanitarian considerations".