Maoists, security forces exchange fire in Odisha jungle; no casualty reported
By Mahendra Darjee
Bhubaneswar, Dec. 15: An exchange of fire took place between Maoists and the security forces during a combing operation at Nalikumbha forest under Manmunda police limits in Boudh district on Thursday.
The incident occurred while Special Operations Group (SOG) and District Voluntary Force (DVF) jawans were on a combing operation in the forest.
Sensing the movements of the security forces, the Maoists started firing at them. In retaliation, the security personnel fired back. The exchange of fire continued for nearly two hours, reports said.
No casualty was reported in the encounter so far.
In another development, two members of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) on Thursday surrendered before Kandhamal police. The two Maoists with several cases against them surrendered before the DGP during his Mao review meeting.
The two were identified as Ranjit Naitam and Unga Poyam, both hailing from neighbouring Chhattisgarh. The two had been associated with the Kandhamal-Kalahandi-Boudh-Nayagarh (KKBN) division of the Odisha State Committee of the CPI (Maoist) Association since 2017 and are involved in several violent activities.
On June 25 and December 5 this year, Maoists posters were found at some places in Boudh district. In the posters, the Red rebels threatened serious consequences to the people cultivated and peddled ganja (cannabis).
The recent movement of Maoists in Boudh has come as a headache to the district administration. Though the adjacent districts such as Nayagarh, Kandhamal and Bolangir district have registered many cases of Left-Wing Extremism activities, Kandhamal, until the beginning of this year, did not have any record of active movements of the rebels.
