Nuapada: Police Tuesday arrested a militiaman, who was involved in various Maoist activities including murders, from Patadarha forest under Boden police limits in this district, superintendent of police (SP) Smit P Parmar told media persons here.
He was identified as Sachindra Majhi of Kuimunda village. Earlier, the ultras had made their presence felt in the forest and acting on intelligence inputs police started a search operation in the region. They traced Sachindra, who was a key aide to armed guerrillas, with the help of jawans, the SP added.
According to police, the militiaman was involved in the murder of Gajapati Majhi (28) in Dhobaghat forest in April 2016. He was also the president of Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh, a banned proxy outfit of the Maoists helping in political, economical and social growth of the rebels.
Police came to know that Sachidra played an important role in conducting meetings for the ultras, informing them about the movement of security forces and civil constructions in the areas. He had also collected the banned notes of Rs 500, Rs 1000 denominations from Maoists after demonetisation and exchanged them in the banks, it was learnt.
While the arrested Maoist aide was produced in a court Tuesday evening, further investigations are underway to find out his other connections, Paramar said, adding, efforts are being made to keep innocent people away from police-Maoist conflicts.
The arrest of the militiaman is the second success for Nuapada police in recent times after encounter of Janati Bai, a woman Maoist cadre in 2015. PNN