The 45-minute encounter in Silakota forest may have eliminated the Kalimela Dalam of CPI (Maoist) dealing a body blow to the outlawed outfit’s operation in Malkangiri, the hotbed of Left Wing Extremism in the State.
Even as identification of the slain Maoists is still underway, post-mortem of the incident suggests that most of the camp members belonged to Kalimela Dalam, including armed cadres and militia.
Police suspect that at least half of the armed cadre members of the dalam may have perished in Saturday morning’s gun battle while the rest suffered injuries sending them to hideouts.
Usually a dalam comprises 30 members including 13 to 14 armed cadres while the rest are local militia, some of whom are also part of the action. “It is unlikely that they would regroup before a year because the loss is severe and it may break their moral,” said a senior officer of the State police.
Investigation suggests that there were at least two top cadres in the camp which is evident from the seizure of AK 47 as well as 9 mm pistol which are generally in possession of the leaders.
After the encounter when security forces scanned the camp, they found three tents. In the third, which was located farthest from the approach, pillows were found which prompts the security forces to believe that the senior leaders were putting up in that tent.
While one of the two is stated to have escaped, one is believed to have been killed in the encounter and the ongoing identification can throw more light on it.
As of now, four ultras have been identified and they include Rama Kawasi, Irma Podiami, Mangala Podiami and Rama Urmami. All were from Kalimela.
The unit is believed to have come from Kalimela side and it surely did not have any clue about the swift nature of the operation carried out by Malkangiri SP Akhileswar Singh.
Sources said Singh, who himself led the team, had returned to Malkangiri from Koraput on Friday after a meeting with DIG S Devdutta Singh. Wasting no time, he marshalled the Special Operation Group and District Voluntary Force in the evening and waited for the right moment to take on the ultras which resulted in one of the biggest strikes against the CPI (Maoist) in recent times.