Malkangiri: Three Maoist cadres surrendered before senior police officers in Odisha’s Malkangiri district Thursday.
Director, Intelligence, Sanjib Panda, said the Republic Day this year was a great occasion for the Odisha Police with the surrender of three Maoist cadres, including a woman.
The three persons identified as Manoj alias Mati Madhi (24), Pandu Kabasi (27) and Aite Karttami (21) hailed from Malkangiri district and the state government had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh each on the capture of these Maoists, Panda and Amitabh Thakur, ADG (Operations), told a press conference here.
“They decided to shun violence and returned to the mainstream after being impressed with the development works in the district”, Panda said.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and DGP SK Bansal’s appeal to Maoists to surrender along with the ongoing developmental work in the area motivated them to take this step, he said.
The Maoists surrendered in the presence of Panda, Thakur, DIG SIW(state intelligence wing) Anirudh Singh, DIG SWR (south-western range) Rajesh Pandit, DIG BSF Madan Lal and Malkangiri SP Nitesh Wadhwan, the police said.
In a separate incident, an ammunition dump was unearthed by Odisha’s elite force, Special Operation Group (SO), and Malkangiri District Voluntary Force (DVF) during a search operation and area domination activities in the hilly and mixed forest area of Tulsi Pahad under Mathili PS jurisdiction.
A huge quantity of IEDs, and IED-making materials were seized.
“It is suspected that these articles were intended to target civilians and security forces,” Panda said.
Meanwhile, security was tightened in Niyamgiri hills area after Maoist posters surfaced at several places in Kalyansinghpur block of Rayagada district.
A probe was initiated and the police were trying to identify the people who pasted the posters on the walls.
PTI
