Maoists Blow Up Forest Beat House ‘In Retaliation’ In Odisha’s Nuapada

Nuapada: Suspected Maoists blew up a beat house of the Forest Department at Golabandh under Sadar police limits in Odisha’s Nuapada district on Thursday night.

According to sources, 15-20 armed Maoists assembled at Golabandh village of Kermeli panchayat and hurled bombs at the beat house and set it on fire around 2 am. They also blew up a JCB machine, belonging to a contractor, and pasted eight posters against the central and state governments at various places in the village.

Opposing the governments’ anti-people and pro-industry policies, the pamphlets exhorted locals to join the movement.

Confirming the incident, Nuapada SP GR Raghavendra said that said the handwritten posters have been put up by Maoists, belonging to the Mainpur-Nuapada division. “This seems like a retaliation to the the recent busting of camps by security forces in Patdhara reserve forest. We are verifying with our source,” he added.

Last week, a joint team of the CRPF, Special Operations Group (SOG) and district police raided the Pathadhara reserve forest in Sinapali police station area near the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border and seized 28 detonators, 1 kg of explosives, an empty case of AK-47, two radios, batteries, a Maoist uniform, knives and arrows. However, around 20-25 Maoists, who were at the spot, managed to flee.