BHUBANESWAR: Modem Balakrishna who was killed in an encounter with the security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Gariaband on Thursday played a key role in two of the bloodiest strikes of CPI (Moaist) in Odisha which gave the banned outfit a firm foothold in the state.
In the night of February 15, 2008, a large contingent of Naxalites descended upon Nayagarh town, the district headquarters, where they massacred 14 people, including 13 policemen before looting the district armoury. The left wing extremists used petrol bomb, grenades and resorted to heavy firing too. It was one of the most audacious attacks by the Maoist outfit, for Nayagarh is barely 90 km from the state capital.
Balakrishna, also known as Manoj, was part of the meticulously planned attack in which the Maoists took away a huge cache of arms and ammunition in a truck and a bus they had hijacked.
Four months later, he was among the key players which planned and executed the Balimela reservoir boat attack on June 29, in which 37 Greyhounds commandos of Andhra Pradesh Police were killed in a first such ambush in the waterways.
Balakrishna was a central committee member of CPI (Maoist) and since the last 10 years, he was the banned outfit’s Odisha state committee secretary. He was in Gariaband from the last two years. In Odisha, he carried a bounty of Rs 25 lakh on his head. Initially, Balakrishna was part of Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) and spearheaded most of the major Naxal attacks since early 2000.
The Gariaband encounter also saw neutralisation of another senior Odisha state committee member of CPI (Maoist), Pramod, who carried a reward of Rs 20 lakh.
Pramod was also secretary of the KKBN (Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh) Division. He too operated out of Gariaband, which comes under Odisha state committee. Both Balakrishna and Pramod were active in the forested areas along the inter-state borders of Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
“The two were part of Dhamtari-Gariaband-Nuapada Division and their killings are a huge blow to Naxal activities in Odisha. Apart from bordering areas in Chhattisgarh, anti-Naxal operations will also be intensified in Kandhamal,” said Sanjeeb Panda, ADG (Operations) of Odisha Police.
Meanwhile, state police have launched combing operations in Nuapada to ensure the ultras do not infiltrate from neighbouring Chhattisgarh amid the ongoing operation in Gariaband.
The KKBN division members usually navigate through Gariaband-Nuapada region. They use the Gariaband-Nuapada forest route to reach Kalahandi and move towards Kandhamal and Boudh districts. The red ultras also take the same route to maintain the supply chain of KKBN division, said sources.