SOP For Political Leaders Visiting Maoist-Hit Areas In Odisha: DGP

Bhubaneswar: In the wake of the murder of a Telegu Dasham Party (TDP) MLA and a former legislator by armed Maoists at Livitiput in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday morning, the Odisha Police, as a precautionary measure, has asked political leaders of Odisha to adhere to its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) while visiting Maoist-infested areas of the state.

Talking to mediapersons on Monday, Director General of Police (DGP) R P Sharma said the Odisha Police will ask the political leaders and the local people’s representatives to adhere to the SOP during their visit to the Maoist-infested areas. The state police will also apprise the personal security officers (PSOs) of the SOP which they will strictly adhere to while accompanying their leaders to these areas.

“According to the provisions of the SOP, any leader and local representative prior to visiting the Maoist-prone areas have to inform the SPs concerned in advance,” he added.

Stating that he has had a discussion with his Andhra Pradesh counterpart on the murder of the two leaders, Sharma said a joint operation of the Odisha and the Andhra Pradesh police would be launched very soon to track down the Maoists in the border areas.

According to Visakhapatnam Range Deputy Inspector General of Police CH Srikanth, a group of about 60 Maoists intercepted the two cars of the sitting TDP MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former TDP MLA Siveri Soma at Livitiput on Sunday morning and shot them from point-blank range after an argument with them.

The Andhra Pradesh Police suspect involvement of Maoists of the Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee led by the secretary Ramakrishna in the attack.