The Ganjam police on Monday said two of the four persons arrested from the Rahaganda forested area in Sorada on Sunday are Maoists belonging to Sabyasanchi Panda’s Odisha Maobadi Party (OMP) and the other two are their supporters.
Police said these men were apprehended during a joint search operations conducted by Sorada police and district volunteer forces. Police claimed to have seized twenty detonators, five gelatin sticks and medicines from them.
The arrested were identified as Kana Mallick of Salimagochha, Mithun Mallick of Sarapadi, Suresh Mallick and Jacob Mallick of Jirakua village. While Mithun and Suresh were working for Panda, other two were identified as their supporters. They all worked for the OMP headed by Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda, police said.
The police have kept a tight watch over the Ganjam-Kandhamal-Gajapati border area as part of their search for the elusive Maoist leader Sabyasachi who is believed to have been moving along this inter-district border zone. There were reports that he had sustained bullet injuries during an encounter on February 15.
Earlier on Sunday security forces had destroyed a large Maoist camp on the Nabarangpur - Chhattisgarh border and seized a huge cache of arms during a joint combing operation in the area.
South Western IG Yeswant Kumar Jethwa revealed that during the joint combing operation by the local police, BSF, DVF and SOG, a large-sized Maoist camp has been destroyed along with the seizure of one 8mm pistol, solar plate, 5kg gun powder, 8 landmines, 3 SBMl guns and 70 detonators on the Nabarangpur-Chhattisgarh border.
Jethwa said around 50 Maoists belonging to the Mainpur division (Chhatisgarh ) of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) in camp managed to escape after exchanging fire with the security forces. He said there were no reports of casualties from either side.
Similarly, a woman Maoist Sancharia Ganju too on Sunday surrendered before the district SP here, police sources said.
Before surrendering to the police Sancharia worked as a member of the Saranda division of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), sources added.