Following the death of 13 Maoists, including a woman, in a fierce encounter that took place at the Silakuta forest of the Padia area in Malkangiri district on Saturday, a two-member team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reached the district police headquarters at Malkangiri on Sunday to interrogate a Maoist nabbed by the joint forces of Special Operation Group (SOG) and District Voluntary Force (DVF) during combing operation in the forest on Saturday.
The NIA team, which is investigating the May 25 mayhem by Maoists on a convoy of Congress leaders at Darabha Ghati in Chhattisgarh, started quizzing the Maoist regarding his involvement in this ambush. They are expected to ask him about the involvement of other Red rebels in the ambush and other strategic information to know the chains of Maoists moving in both States.
Similarly, a team of the Chhattisgarh police reached the office of the Superintendent of Police of Malkangiri on Sunday to recognise the bodies of the Maoists killed on Saturday. They would also ask the nabbed Maoist whether the deceased were involved in the Chhattisgarh ambush.
After their successful operation, the joint forces have continued search operations in the Silakuta forest area to nab the Maoists who sustained severe injuries during the combing operation on Saturday night. “We are trying to track the movement of Kalimela Dalam leader Rakesh, who had escaped during the combing operation, within two or three days,” said Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Akhileswar Singh.
Meanwhile, DG of Police Prakash Mishra, ADG (Intelligence) Abhay, Director of Intelligence DS Kutte and IG operations Soumendra Priyadarshi returned to Bhubaneswar after visiting Malkangiri to take stock of
the situation.
Notably, the Union Home Ministry is holding a meeting in New Delhi on September 25 to review the situations in the Maoist-affected States in the country where the success story of the Odisha police in
retaliating ultras may figure. DGP Mishra along with Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra will attend
the meeting.
the buIJ.TIJIJgIJill also prevent undue victimisation of the local communities in the name of poaching, he added.
Work has been assigned to an Environmental NGO Sangram, which operates in the area along with the local communities. “The NGO has already taken up the work of survey in the villages,” said Sanjukta Basa, also Honorary Wildlife warden in
STR. Along with this, a socio economic survey is also being conducted in the villages to work out further livelihood options for the local communities based on their skills, she added.
> IJ_ lIJIJgIJrmal>According to official sources, "Armed with specific inputs the Indian Army was able to silence guns fitted inside these civilian structures in retaliatory firing". However, several similar structures continue to be occupied by the Pak army regulars and it is cause of concern for the Indian Army.
"We fear targeting them as they are located in civilian areas where houses are densely populated and any mishit may provide a handle to the Pak Army to launch their propaganda against the Indian Army," a field officer of the Indian army in Poonch said.
The adjoining structures were apparently used by the Pak Army personnel to accommodate trained militants before pushing them inside the Indian Territory during the heavy exchange of firing, sources said. "The possibility of presence of BAT teams inside these structures also cannot be ruled out," sources said.