ROURKELA: Close on the heels of busting of a Maoist camp in a forest under Gurundia police limits, Rourkela police dismantled another camp at Saplata forest in Sundargarh district following brief exchange of fire on Tuesday.
Police on Wednesday confirmed that the camp was housing about 50 members of the banned CPI (Maoists) outfit, including Central committee members Prashant Bose alias Kishanda alias Manish and Misir Besra alias Sagar alias Bibek alias Sunil.
Kishanda was chief of the now defunct Saranda-based Eastern Regional Bureau of the outfit.
IGP (Western range) RK Sharma said during combing operation, Special Operation Group (SOG) and Gurundia police detected the camp at Saplata forest, which is about 30 kms from the earlier camp. Exchange of fire among security forces and Maoists lasted for about 30 minutes. Later, they fled under the cover of thick forest.
From the seized documents, it was confirmed that the Maoist group comprised around 50 members of which 46 have been identified. After busting of the earlier camp, the Maoist group had taken shelter at the temporary camp, he added. Quoting intelligence sources, Sharma said the group comprising two top Maoist leaders had visited Kalahandi, Boudh and Angul districts and is trying to sneak into Saranda forest in adjacent Jharkhand. The Maoist group has 35-40 armed cadres and 10-15 women including minor girls. The combing operation would continue, he added.
During the raid, at least 13 empty cartridges, Maoist uniforms, documents, medicines and other items were seized.
On June 23 night, Rourkela police had busted a camp of the same group in Raipuri reserve forest under Gurundia police limits.