Odisha Police To Deploy Drones In Malkangiri To Keep Watch On Maoists: DGP

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Police has decided to deploy drones to keep a close watch on the movement of Maoists in the cut-off areas of Malkangiri district.

“The State Police has decided to engage two drones, of which one will have keep surveillance on the Gurupriya bridge and its periphery and the other will be used in the other cut-off areas of Chitrakonda block to keep a strict vigil on the movement of the Left-wing extremists,” Director General of Police (DGP) Dr R P Sharma told the media here on Friday.

Talking about the encounter between the police and the Maoists in the Tulasi hill forest in Mathili block in the district, which had begun on Thursday evening and continued till Friday morning, Sharma said that Maoists were able to flee the area by using people of the nearby villages as shield.

“Acting on a tip-off about the presence of 40-50 Maoists, including the top Maoist leader Sanju in the hill forest, a unit of the District Voluntary Force (DVF) and the district police led by the SP had raided the area on Thursday evening. Police have seized several Maoist articles from the camp,” he added.

The DGP also said that two additional units of the Special Operation Group (SOG) have been sent to the area to join the combing operation which is still underway.

“Since there is a possibility that the Maoists would escape to Chhattisgarh as it is nearer to Malkangiri district, we have alerted the Chhattisgarh police to keep a tight vigil on the border areas,” he informed.

The DGP further said since there is no rainfall in the cut-off areas, the operation against the Maoists would be intensified in the areas through the Gurupriya bridge.