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Bhubaneswar (Orissa) : Armed militants of the outlawed CPI (Maoists) on Wednesday gun down three persons at Pandratola village in Orissa’s Rayagada district bordering Andhra Pradesh.
“The outlawed ultras killed three and injured two very badly,” District Superintendent of Police AK Singh said adding that rebels were good in number and they were speaking in Telegu language.
Earlier on Tuesday, the outlawed militants had blown up a bridge over a rivulet to stall movement security forces in State’s Malkangiri district.
The incident took place at MV-77 village under Kalimela Police limits of the district. The rebels had used a high power land mine to damage the bridge.
Meanwhile, senior police officials in the State are blaming the Union Home Ministry for infiltration of Maoists into Malkangiri district through Chhattisgarh border.
The police establishment here is very critical over the delayed deployment of additional 7000 CRPF personnel for the Operation Green Hunt. Sources said that due to a secrete offensive prior to the main operation, a good number of Maoists leaders have shifted their hideout from Chhattisgarh.
The dense forests and hilly terrain of the Malkangiri district under the south-western range have been conducive to the movement of the Maoists whenever pressure mounts on them in Chhattisgarh.
A senior police official involved in anti-insurgency operations said that they have received information from Intelligence sleuths of Andhra Pradesh that a group of senior leftwing ultras have been infiltrated into Malkangiri and Rayagada.
“There are reports of a substantial build-up of Maoists, particularly in our southern districts adjoining Dantewada, but because of the lack of adequate forces we have not been able to do much,” Prakash Mishra, Director Intelligence said.
Mishra denied reports that Orissa had temporarily withdrawn from anti-Maoist operations for lack of boots on the ground, but said: “We do need additional forces. Without them, we are quite handicapped.”
He argued that Orissa was virtually “land-locked” by Maoist-affected states — Jharkhand and West Bengal to the north, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh to the south — and said that recent pressure created by security forces in Lalgarh and Dantewada had led to a “lot of Maoists moving base into our jungle regions”.
Like the Greyhounds of Andhra, Orissa has a Special Operations Group (SOG) to keep a check on Maoist guerrillas, but the state police has expressed its inability to take “effective enough action” in the absence of backup forces.
“We are doing what we can, and have had a measure of success, but without additional paramilitary, we just do not have enough biting power,” added another senior cop.
