Odisha police exchanges fire with Maoists in Nabarangpur; arms contraceptives seized
Sources said top Maoist leaders like Guddu, Murli and Akash were present in the camp when the security personnel raided it.
By Surya Narayan Panda
Bhubaneswar, April 27: The Odisha police had on Wednesday evening an exchange of fire with the suspected Maoist cadres in the forests of Nabarangpur bordering Chhattisgarh.
No reports of any casualties from either side were available.
After the exchange, the police seized huge cache of arms and ammunitions and other articles that include packets of contraceptives.
The contraceptives, among others, included condoms, pills and pregnancy test kits.
The cops said the seizure of contraceptives indicated sexual exploitation of the young women cadres in the Maoist outfits.
The exchange of fire took place after the state police carried out combing operations on Chhattisgarh’s bordering districts such as Malkangiri, Koraput and Nabarangpur soon after the Maoist ambush in Dantewada district.
Sharing details about the encounter, Nabarangpur superintendent of police (SP) S Sushree said, “Two Special Operation Group (SOG) teams of Odisha police launched an ant-Maoist operation on Odisha-Chhattisgarh border. A gunfight broke out between the police personnel and 20-25 armed ultras during the operation. The exchange of fire lasted for around half-an-hour.”
Sources said top Maoist leaders like Guddu, Murli and Akash were present in the camp when the security personnel raided it. Taking advantage of the dark of the night, the rebel leaders managed to flee the place.
“No one was hurt in the gun battle. However, a huge cache of Maoist articles including improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were seized during the operation,” Sushree informed.
Stating that the Maoists exploited the women cadres, the SP said this fact was evident after huge amount of contraceptive items were seized from their camp during the search operation.
On Wednesday, the Maoists blew up a vehicle of the District Reserve Guards (DRG) with an IED near Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. Ten personnel of the DRG and the driver of the vehicle were killed in the ambush.
The Odisha Police has also decided to intensify combing operations in different Naxal-infested districts of the state following the Chhattisgarh carnage.
