Two persons with suspected Maoist links were nabbed by the police during the combing operation in the Kalikota forest near Kotagarh in Kandhamal district following Thursday’s encounter with Maoists, police sources said on Friday.
One of them, Manoj Kumar Sabat, is a local BJD leader and reportedly the block representative of the Kandhamal MP Rudramadhab Ray. The other person was identified as Dhaneswar Mallik.
While briefing mediapersons here, Kandhamal SP KB Singh evaded questions on Sabat’s political links and only said two persons were arrested and a large quantity of medicines and a few Maoist pamphlets seized from their possession during the combing operation. Some explosives, wires and cartridges were also seized from the jungle during the combing operation, the SP added.