Maoists lose three-decade-old ‘safe haven’ in Odisha after 24 gunned down

Bhubaneswar: While the killing of at least 24 Maoists, including seven of their top leaders, dealt a major psychological blow to the outlawed CPI(Maoist) in Odisha, it has boosted the morale of the security personnel as the Maoists have lost their “safe home” in Malkangiri district.

The killings took place during a joint operation by Odisha and Andhra Pradesh police at Bejingi in the Panasput gram panchayat area under Chitrakonda police station in Malkangiri district, surrounded by hills and forests on three sides and Balimela reservoir on one.

The ultras used to take shelter there after committing violence in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh or Chhattisgarh, said Nihar Nayak, a researcher of the Maoist movement in Odisha, adding that they used to take advantage of the geographical location of the area since they started operating from these parts in the 1980s.

When the Maoists had started using the place as a “safe haven” in the 80s, the then Odisha government had taken little action because the ultras refrained from creating any disturbance in the state. Their activities were mostly confined to Andhra Pradesh, said a senior police officer.

The Bejingi area, where today’s operation took place, had hosted a meeting of top Maoist trainers last night. The rebels did not think that the security personnel would launch an assault in the deep forests surrounded by hills and flanked by a reservoir, the officer said.

The Maoists had eliminated at least 38 security personnel, including 35 members of Greyhound, Andhra Pradesh’s elite anti-Naxal force, while they were crossing the Balimela reservoir in a mechanised boat in 2008.

At least 24 Maoists, including seven of their top leaders, were today gunned down in a fierce gun-battle with the security forces in Odisha’s Malkangiri district on the border with Andhra Pradesh.

While using the place as a “safe haven”, the Maoists also used the carrot-and-stick policy for the locals. The villagers who opposed them were eliminated after being branded as “police informers” and those who supported them got praise from the rebels, said a panchayat level politician from Chitrokonda area.

In their bid to keep the “cut-off area” safe and out of reach for the security personnel, the Maoists in the past had destroyed equipment used in road construction, mobile phone towers and government buildings.

Now that the Odisha government has been constructing a major bridge (918-mtr) at Gurupriya to connect 151 villages in the “cut-off area”, the Maoists would further lose their “safe shelter”, said a local engineer, adding that the construction of the bridge was likely to be completed by the end of 2018.

Meanwhile, the Maoists’ stronghold of Narayanpatna and Bandhugaon blocks in Koraput district are now “within the reach” of the administration after a series of police operations.

“After today’s operation, the Maoists have suffered a major setback in the entire south Odisha, particularly in Koraput and Malkangiri districts,” a top police officer involved in anti-Maoist operations said.

Earlier, the Maoist movement had suffered a setback when Sabyasachi Panda quit the CPI(Maoist) and formed his own group, ‘Odisha Maobadi Party’. Panda is in jail, leading to a decline in Maoist activities in Gajapati, Rayagada and Ganjam districts.

However, the Maoists have re-grouped in Kalahandi, Boudh and Kandhamal. Naxal cadres, mostly from Chhattisgarh, operate in the western region of the state, while the guerrillas from Andhra Pradesh operate in south Odisha, the officer said.

Today’s successful operation took place when the Maoists were threatening the people to boycott the three-tier panchayat polls slated for February next.

Maoist leader Ramakrishna had reportedly addressed a meeting in the Jantri area in the “cut-off zone” earlier this month and asked the tribals to boycott the polls.

Top Naxal leaders among 24 killed in encounter

Malkangiri (Odisha): At least 24 Maoists, including their top leaders, were gunned down in a fierce gun-battle with security forces in Odisha’s Malkangiri district on the border with Andhra Pradesh, giving a major blow to the ultras.

A senior commando of the elite anti-Naxal force, Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh was also killed, while another commando was injured in the encounter that took place in the cut-off area of remote Chitrakonda on Andhra-Odisha border, Malkangiri SP Mitrabhanu Mohapatra said.

“The bodies of 24 Maoists, including that of some women, were recovered from the site after the joint operation conducted by the Odisha police and Greyhounds, while a few of the rebels are suspected to have fled,” the SP said.

He said two senior Greyhounds commandos, who were injured in the gun-battle in the wee hours, had been airlifted to Visakhapatnam for treatment and one of them, identified as Abubacker, succumbed to injuries in a hospital there. The other commando is undergoing treatment.

Some high-ranking Maoist leaders, including Uday and Chalapati who carried heavy rewards on their heads, were suspected to be among those killed in the encounter that took place in a mountainous forest area between Bejing and Muchiputam under Panasput grampanchyat, the police said.

Stating that the operation was launched on the basis of intelligence inputs, Odisha GDP K B Singh said 10 rifles, four AK-47 rifles, three SLRs, kit bags and huge ammunition have been recovered from the site and search operation was continuing.

There was information about the presence of cadres of Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee in the area and Odisha police teams also got it verified that Naxal camps were operating there, the DGP said.

“Since the area is located in the cut-off area on Andhra-Odisha border, the operation was launched from the other side and Greyhounds took the lead,” Singh said.

Meanwhile, arrangements are being made to airlift the bodies of the slain Maoists to Malkangiri, the SP said adding that combing operation was also intensified in the forest in Andhra-Odisha border areas to locate bodies, if any, and the fleeing Maoists.

Noting that the encounter site was located in a highly remote area which is accessible by road only through Andhra Pradesh, he said the bodies are to be airlifted by helicopter to Malkangiri. .

Malkangiri served as a major transit belt of the Naxals. In September 2013, as many as 13 Maoists were killed in an exchange of fire with the police in the Padia area of Malkangiri district.

The operation is seen as a revenge of the attack on June 29, 2008 when Maoists had ambushed a boat carrying Greyhound jawans in the reservoir at Alampaka. Altogether 38 persons, including 35 Greyhound jawans from Andhra Pradesh, had been killed in the attack.

Andhra Pradesh DGP (in charge) Nanduri Sambasiva Rao, who flew down to Visakhapatnam in afternoon, said Maoists continued to fire at the police parties.

“They are still firing. We are asking them to stop not sure if the firing has stopped,” he told reporters at Visakhapatnam airport.

Gajarla Ravi, who took part in the peace talks with AP government in 2004 along with top Maoist leader Ramakrishna, had been functioning as the Maoist Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) zone secretary.

Some reports suggested that Ramakrishna, who hails from Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh, gave a slip to police from the encounter site this morning even as unconfirmed reports suggested that his son Munna, who joined the Maoists recently, was among those kille

The top Maoist had leaders assembled in their “den” in the Malkangiri forests for a plenum when the alleged encounter took place around 6.45 AM.

Gajarla Ravi had been active in the Naxal movement for more than two decades.

One of his brothers, Gajarla Saraiah alias Azad, was also killed in an encounter with police in Warangal district (now in Telangana) a few years ago while another brother Ashok had recently surrendered to the police due to ill health.

Another top Maoist leader Ramachandra Reddy alias Chalapati hailing from Chittoor district of AP, who had been under-ground for over four decades now, was also said to be among the 24 ultras killed today.

This was the third major “encounter” between the Maoists and security forces in the AOB region in which the former suffered heavy casualties.

Meanwhile, civil society leaders have demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge of High Court into the encounter.

“It was not an exchange of fire as being claimed by police. The Maoists, who were closeted in a meeting, were gunned down,” AP Civil Liberties Committee leader Srirama Murthy alleged.

PTI