New Delhi ( CNN ) -- Maoist insurgents in the Indian state of Orissa have set free the second of two Italians they kidnapped almost a month ago , but a local legislator is still being held , a government spokesman said Thursday . The Italian citizen Paolo Bosusco has been released , said S.K . Panda , a spokesman for the government of Orissa in eastern India . `` He is on his way to Bhubaneswar , '' the state capital , Panda said . Bosusco was kidnapped with another Italian tourist , Claudio Colangelo , in the district of Kandhamal on March 14 . Colangelo was set free 11 days later . The guerillas also kidnapped Jhina Hikaka , a member of the state 's legislative assembly who is still being detained . Last week , authorities in Orissa agreed to release 27 prison inmates in exchange for the return of the abducted Italian man and the legislator . Orissa 's chief minister , Naveen Patnaik , specified that 23 prisoners would be freed to secure Hikaka 's release , and the other four for Bosusco 's . The captors had set 13 demands , including the withdrawal of government troops from rebel strongholds in the state and the release of fellow Maoists and their supporters from jail . Panda said Thursday that one of the prisoners , who the chief minister had promised to free in the exchange , has been released and others have been asked to file their bail applications . Anti-rebel operations , part of a decades-long conflict , have already been put on hold in Kandhamal , officials said . Maoist militants have been battling the Indian government in several eastern states since the late 1960s in an insurgency that has resulted in thousands of casualties . The group says it is fighting for the poor and the dispossessed . In addition to targeting police , alleged police informers and `` class enemies , '' the insurgents are believed to have carried out attacks on roads , bridges , railways , and power and telecommunication networks .
Left-wing insurgents are still holding a state lawmaker in Orissa . The government has also been accused of using the army to suppress dissent and crush dissent. The Indian authorities have offered to free 27 prisoners .