Nabarangpur: Acting on a tip-off regarding the presence of Maoist cadres in an area bordering the Gariyaband district of Chhattisgarh and Raigarh in Odisha’s Nabarangpur district, two teams of Special Operations Group (SOG) jawans were sent to comb these areas on Tuesday.
According to Nabarangpur SP S Sushree, when the SOG jawans were combing the Udanti area of Mainpur Division in Nuapada, they confronted 20 to 25 Maoist cadres. The Maoist team comprised area CCM Murali, SCM Karthik, SCM Gudu, ACM Akash, ACM Nandal, and many women cadres.
“On seeing the SOG team approaching them, the Maoists opened fire at the jawans. The jawans retaliated the firing and the combat continued for about 30 minutes.
However, taking advantage of the darkness and the dense forest, all the Maoists managed to flee the area.
“Most of these Maoists hailed from villages in the north of Saibin Kachar in Udanti forest under the Shova police station limits of Gariyaband district in Chhattisgarh,” S Sushree said.
Later, the police searched the Maoist hideout and recovered a large amount of Maoist materials from the forest. The confiscated items include Maoist posters, banners, two hangings, detonators, batteries, five live bullets, one solar plate, an umbrella, food items, plastic, contraceptives, mosquito repellents, medicines, etc.
“The gunfight between the SOG jawans and Maoists has demoralised the extremists who were terrorising the people in the region by putting up intimidating posters and through extortions. They were also responsible for most of the criminal activities in the region. We hope that this will end now,” S Sushree said.
