Youth Detained In Khurda Not A Maoist: Police

Khurda: The youth, who was detained in Odisha’s Khurda district on Thursday, has no links with the Maoists, the police confirmed on Friday.

Talking to mediapersons at the Begunia police station after a marathon interrogation of the youth, Inspector General (IG), Central Range, Soumendra Priyadarshi said the youth has no connection with the Maoists.

“After verification, the police have got the details about the youth who has been identified as Suresh Panharia of Boden block in Nuapada district. He was working at a brick kiln in Andhra Pradesh. But as he could not pay back the money to the owner of the brick kiln from whom he had taken in advance, he along with two other workers managed to flee the area and came back to Odisha. They were hiding in the Gojamundia hill forest,” the IG said.

He also said that the youth has informed the police that his two associates had left the forest fearing police action. “Efforts are on to trace them,” he added.

The people of Deuli village under Begunia police limits had detained a youth on Thursday afternoon while he was purchasing a large quantity of flattened rice (chuda), biscuits and other dry food items from a shop near the village. The villagers had seen the youth moving suspiciously along the village and its nearby areas for the last 15 days. Since he spoke the dialect of western Odisha, they suspected him to be a member of a Maoist organisation and informed the Begunia police.

On being informed, SP (Khurda) Dipti Ranjay Ray and SDPO Jugal Kishore Das arrived at Begunia police station in the evening and recorded the statement of the youth.

On the basis of his statement, the district police and a special SOG team launched a joint operation in the Gojamundia hill forest at around 3 am and seized some cooking items. However, no other Maoist articles and weapons were found during the search operation.