Cops hot on maoist Sabyasachi's trail

Berhampur: The death of five Maoists in the recent encounter in Gajapati district appears to have dealt a severe blow to the Sabyasachi Panda-led Odisha Maoist Party (OMP), at a time when Panda was desperately trying to spread his network in southern Odisha after being expelled from the CPI (Maoist).

As many as 86 of his loyalists have either surrendered or have been arrested by police in Ganjam, Gajapati and Kandhamal districts in the last three years. This apart, 14 of Panda's associates have been killed, including five in the recent encounter at Bhaliagada in Gajapati district's Mohana police station area.

Police made the latest arrest on last Wednesday when Junesh Digal of Bahada Sahi village in Kandhamal district's Tikabali police station area was picked up from Bhaliagada forest during the gunfight. Digal was involved in the encounter. He was also involved in Maoist offensives earlier, police said.

A senior police officer on Friday said, now that Sabyasachi is in trouble after losing so many of his aides, Maoist cadres from Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh might set up camps in southern Odisha to bolster the extremists' organization in the area without Sabyasachi.

"The Red leader is now facing double trouble. While he is facing threat from the other Maoist groups, many of his close confidantes have left him. The death of his five supporters during the encounter at Bhaliagada on Wednesday was a severe blow to his group," the police officer added.

Police, however, are not taking things lightly. "We will continue our combing operation and can't allow him to build up his organization all over again. Sabyasachi was involved in several heinous crimes. He is a most wanted Maoist. Security forces are keeping strict vigil on his movement," the police officer said.

Meanwhile, security forces continued intense combing operations on the Ganjam-Gajapati-Kandhamal border for the third consecutive day on Friday. "Around 300 personnel, including Central Reserve Police Forces (CRPF), Special Operation Group (SOG), District Voluntary Force (DVF) and local police were involved in the operation," said DIG (southern range) R K Sharma.

Police suspect Sabyasachi and some of his associates are likely to be hiding in the dense jungleon the border of these three districts. Some of their personal belongings, including two pistols, four country-made guns, one 9 mm pistol, one SLR magazine and explosives were seized from a camp that the forces destroyed after Wednesday's gunfight," the DIG added.

Police have pasted several photographs of the Maoist cadres, all associates of Sabyasachi, in Mohana area and have asked people to inform police about their whereabouts. These wanted extremists are Krisha, Aruna, Pramoda Majhi alias Sagara, Pratap Nayak and Mahesh.
Source http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Cops-hot-on-Sabyasachis-trail/articleshow/17249470.cms