Police, CRPF Jawans encounter Two Maoists in Rourkela

Bhubaneswar: Two Maoists were killed in a gun battle with the security forces in Odisha’s Sundargarh district. Name of the identified maoist is Sangram and he was a platoon commander of the maoist outfit.

Singh said Maoists in groups of about 20 to 25 persons sneaked into the Odisha border from Jharkhand and fired at the security personnel who were already conducting operation.

Inspector General of Police (western range) R K Sharma told mediapersons that following intelligence inputs, SOG, DVF personnel and CRPF jawans were combing the forest in Asurkhol hill on Wednesday at around 9.30 am when the SOG team located a temporary Maoist camp. 303 rifles, 171 rounds of live ammunition of different calibers, three country-made hand grenades, one SLR magazine, Maoist uniforms, literature and items of daily use.

“We have got success in killing two Maoists”.

The I-G said, “Maoist rebels are suspected to be from Jharkhand”.

Police denied association of any Maoist in Odisha with extremists in Jharkhand. “They probably wanted to take shelter in the Odisha forest till the end of the Jharkhand rural polls, scheduled on November 22 and November 28”, the officer said.

While the state’s police force has claimed that left-wing extremism is gradually being brought under control, they admit that they still face a challenging situation in dealing with the menace in parts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Bolangir, Nuapada, Rayagada, Baragarh, Kalahandi and Nabarangpur Districts.

One of the deceased is believed to be a top cadre of the Maoist group.