After receiving reliable information about movement of a Maoist group in the Niyamagiri hills adjacent to Balasaraj village bordering Rayagada and Kalahandi districts, a joint operation has been launched in the border areas involving the police forces of both the districts to nab the ultras. It was informed by Rayagada SP K Siva Subramani at a Press meet at Rayagada on Thursday.
During the combing operation on Wednesday afternoon near village Semlabhata under the lanjigarh police station, the ultras all of a sudden opened fire towards the police forces resulting exchange of fire between the police force and the Maoists.
Taking advantage of thick bushes and undulated terrains, the leftwing extremists managed to flee away. “It is highly suspected that some Maoists have got injured during this operation,” said Subramani.
After a thorough search on the spot, the police force was able to recover materials like one switch board for landmine, one tiffin bomb (landmine), four numbers of electric detonators, 30 metres electric wire, one ADIN model walkie talkie, a Maoist Constitution, a small radio, three torch lights, two polythene sheets, some Maoist literature, clothes including winter garments and articles for day-to-day use by the Maoists. From the recovered Maoist literatures, lWEs are ascertained to belong to Bansadhara-Ghumusar-Nagabali division of the Maoist group.
In Kalahandi, tension ran high among residents of M Rampur town of the district on Thursday morning after Maoists threatened the CRPF to leave Kalahandi district. Posters were spotted at several locations under the M Rampur police limits alleged that CRPF personnel have assaulted women and girls in the area in the month of December last year.
The posters, bearing anti-CRPF messages in red ink, were pasted on the boundary walls of panchayat, health center buildings and at marketplaces and in some villages in the interiors of M Rampur.
The police suspect the rebels pasted the posters in the wee hours of Thursday. The posters were first noticed by Barabandha villagers in the morning. Police sources said they heard about the posters pasted in the interiors of Barabandha but didn’t know about posters found in other areas.