Kandhamal: Security forces have intensified counter-insurgency operations in the forested areas of Kandhamal, focusing on apprehending Sukru, Odisha’s top Maoist leader and a key impediment to eradicating Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) in the state.
Sources said that the joint operation led by Odisha police includes 13 new SOG teams, District Voluntary Force (DVF), Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) began on Thursday in the Daringbadi and Raikia region, where Sukru and his team is expected to be hiding.
The intensified offensive includes drone-based aerial surveillance to track movement in remote and inaccessible terrain.
The crackdown comes amid shocking revelations of internal rifts within Maoist ranks, which police claimed led to to the murder of a junior Maoist commander, Anwesh alias Renu, in Kandhamal district, whose decomposed body was exhumed from Pakiri reserve forest under Daringbadi police limits recently.
Sukru, the 49-year-old wanted Maoist, allegedly killed 31-year-old Anvesh, a divisional committee member (DVCM) and military platoon commander of the KKBN (Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh) Division of Maoists on January 29, following a difference of opinion over the latter’s plan to surrender along with his entire 12-member team. “After getting information about the surrender plan, the Sukru group killed Anwesh and buried his body. Security forces searched and recovered it,” ADG (anti-Naxal operations) Sanjeeb Panda told the media.
The surrender plan would have dealt a major blow to the LWE movement in Odisha, which now has fewer than 30 active members. Anvesh, originally from Sukma in Chhattisgarh, had been operating in the KKBN area since 2021 and was carrying a bounty of Rs 27.5 lakh on his head. He was the second-in-command of the area and carried an AK-47 rifle.
According to a senior police officer, the killing indicated deepening rifts within the Maoist outfit, with a significant number of cadres reportedly inclined to surrender in order to access government benefits, in contrast to those who fiercely resist the idea.
Earlier on February 22, Sukru lost two of his associates, including a woman cadre, in an exchange of fire with security forces in Karada forest area under Raikia police limits, leading to a huge seizure of arms and ammunition. Sukru reportedly escaped through the deep forest terrain during the encounter.
“We are carrying out our operation with greater vigour as we approach our March 31 deadline. I am confident of achieving the target. Additionally, I appeal to the Maoists who are there in the forest to abandon violence and join the mainstream. We will provide them with full support and assistance in accordance with the government’s surrender policy,” Panda said, adding that special mobile numbers were circulated in the forested area appealing to Maoists to put down arms.
The officer added the mission is to dismantle the network of Sukru, who has been part of the insurgency for three decades and carries a bounty of Rs 55 lakh. However, security forces are on high alert, anticipating possible retaliatory strikes from Maoist cadres loyal to him.
Sukru, who hails from Malkangiri’s Kalimela, is member of the 8th company of the banned CPI (Maoist). Top Maoist commander Ganesh Uikey, who was gunned down in the dense forested area of Rambha on the borders of Ganjam and Kandhamal in December last year, was also part of the 8th company, the sources added.
