Rourkela: Security personnel Saturday morning seized a huge cache of Maoist material following a gunfire with Maoists in Shilkuta reserve forest near Sanabalijodi village under K Balang police limits in Sundargarh district.
The gun-battle continued for half-an-hour during which jawans fired approximately 200 rounds of bullets forcing the ultras to flee. The seizure list included 74 pieces of 9 mm live bullets, 10 gelatin sticks, Maoist posters, solar lights, many uniforms and other material. While 28 tents were put up at the site, around 50 rebels were suspected to be operating from the camp, according to police. Some of them might have sustained injuries during the exchange of fire.
While a high alert has been sounded in the area bordering Jharkhand, search operation has been intensified in the region, IG-western range RK Sharma told the media.
Based on intelligence inputs, a joint raid by police and CRPF personnel was conducted on the camp Saturday morning. The rebels started firing indiscriminately while the security forces retaliated. The Maoists retrieved after an hour of firing. This is the third Maoist camp that police have destroyed in last few days, the IG added.
Earlier, police June 28 had busted two more camps and seized a huge quantity of Maoist material in reserved forests at Kelo and Saplata under Gurundia police limits. While central commanders Kisan Da and Sagar alias Mishri Beshra were leading those two camps, details about the leadership in Shilkuta reserve forest are yet to be ascertained, IG Sharma said.
On the other hand, two dreaded Maoists escaped from Gurundia camp and surrendered Tuesday before Rourkela SP. They were Sunita Mundari alias Sunita (20) of Gotad village of Latehar district of Jharkhand and Sanjay Munda alias Somra (20) of Sanabalijor under K Balang police limits in Sundargarh district. The two were carrying a bounty of `1 lakh each on their heads by Jharkhand government. After getting trained under Kisan Da and Sagar, the duo worked as active members in the camps in Kalahandi, Boudh, Anugul, Sambalpur and Sundargarh districts, police said.
Among others Rourkela SP Anirudh Kumar Singh, CRPF commandants Himanshu Kumar and Gopal were present at the press meet. PNN
