Orissa: Maoists spreading tentacles to urban, coastal centres

SAMBALPUR/JAGATSINGHPUR: The arrest of Damdeo from Khadia Basti in Rourkela, James from Badbazar in Sambalpur and now Prashant Rout from Jagatsinghpur besides disclosure of Damdeo that they had sent Rs 25 lakh to their leaders in Cuttack have exposed that the Naxals have spread their tentacles to urban centres.

While Sambalpur SP Kumar admitted that they have presence in urban areas including Cuttack, experts feel easy availability of logistics and dense population have helped Maoists strengthen base in urban centres.

The recovery of MCC literature, which called for 'Vote Barjan - Mukti Arjan' (Boycott Poll, Get Freedom) and was distributed before the panchayat polls, in Jagatsinghpur also exposed the Maoist network in the district.

In fact, even Jagatsinghpur SP Radhakrishna Sharma in a recent press meet had confirmed that Maoists have links with the district.

Meanwhile, to drive home the point, Sambalpur police on Friday conducted raids in Jagatsinghpur district to find out clues about the presence of ultras.

During a recent combing operation in Sambalpur, a few Maoists had been injured in police firing and one of them had been identified as a resident of Kusupur village in Jagatsinghpur district.

Sambalpur police raided the hide-outs of the ultras at Kusupur, Dhanurubellari and other areas under Ersama police limits.

The cops also got a clue that the Naxals were carrying on their activities with the knowledge of a retired police officer and thus raided the house of the officer at Jagatsinghpur besides another house in Deliligramsewar village.

The cops got sufficient evidence about the movement of their sympathisers in these areas. According to police, the ultras have targeted the district to take advantage of the Posco imbroglio.

Contacted, Balikuda police station OIC S K Kanungo confirmed that Sambalpur police had raided Balikuda areas.