ROURKELA: A Maoist camp inside Champajharan reserve forest under Chandiposh police limits of Sundargarh district was destroyed by Rourkela police late on Thursday night. A group of 20 to 25 Maoists of Sambalpur-Deogarh-Sundargarh division, led by Maoist leader Anmol Hembram alias Samarjee, however, managed to escape.
DIG of Police (Western range) Kabita Jalan said on a tip off, cops of Chandiposh police station, Special Operation Group, District Voluntary Force and CRPF launched a search operation and detected the camp inside Champajharan reserve forest. The Maoist group is suspected to have cadres from Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Security forces seized four small can bombs, 21 bundles of wires, two bundles of lose electric wires, one whistle code, a pair of Maoist uniform, Maoist literature and other materials. The makeshift camp made of tarpaulin sheets was dismantled. When asked about the strength of Maoists along the Odisha-Jharkhand border in the wake of sustained police action, the DIG said the Maoists are on the run.
Rourkela SP Uma Shankar Dash said the group of Sambalpur-Deogarh-Sundargarh Maoists, led by Samarjee, is constantly on the move and hiding in forests of Bonai sub-division as they are being chased by security forces. Police would continue to pursue them till all are arrested, he said, adding that they are regularly exchanging information with their counterparts in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand and districts of Deogarh and Sambalpur.