Bhubaneswar/Rourkela: A team of NIA reached Rourkela on Thursday to investigate the hijacking and looting of an explosive-laden truck at K Balang area of Odisha’s Sundargarh district.
According to sources, the NIA has formed special teams to track Maoist group activities in the area and retrieve the stolen explosives. A high-level meeting involving NIA officials and senior police from Odisha and Jharkhand was also held to coordinate the probe and devise strategic responses.
This came a day after Odisha police confirmed involvement of Maoists from Jharkhand in the incident, which took place at 9.30 am on Tuesday when the truck, carrying 4 tonnes of gelatine sticks, was heading to a stone quarry in Banko, in the vicinity of the Saranda forests in the adjacent West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, considered the hotbed of Maoists. The armed miscreants reportedly threatened the driver at gunpoint and asked him to drive into a nearby forest, where 10-15 others looted approximately 150 packets of explosives, each weighing 15-25 kg. The truck was later found abandoned in the forest.
The driver, Debnath Toppo, said the Hindi-speaking Maoists spared him after he pleaded for mercy.
“They entered from neighbouring Jharkhand, given the Banko quarry’s proximity to Maoist-active areas of West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand,” DIG (western range) Brijesh Rai told TOI.
Following the incident, Odisha police, with Jharkhand police and CRPF, have launched a joint anti-Maoist operation in the area.
On Wednesday, DGP Y B Khurania also visited Rourkela and held a closed-door meeting with IG (Operation) Deepak Kumar, DIG (Western Range) Brijesh Kumar Rai and Sundargarh SP Pratyush Diwakar, also in charge of Rourkela. He also visited K Balang police station and reviewed the ongoing investigation.
The incident has sparked alarm in Sundargarh, declared Maoist-free in April 2024, and triggered apprehension of a disruption of the Centre’s objective to establish a ‘Maoist free’ India by March 2026.
Meanwhile, police have sealed an explosive storage facility in Itma, Sundargarh, which supplied the gelatin.
