Nuapada: Security personnel conducted a raid and arrested a Maoist and his associate from inside the Patapani forest in this district Wednesday morning. The arrested was Manoj Madakami, carrying a cash reward of Rs 4 lakh on his head, while the other was Grupaleswara Majhi, a tribal from a nearby village.
Nuapada SP Smith P Parmar said that after getting a tip off about the presence of some Maoists inside the forest, the security personnel launched a combing operation and made the arrest.
“The two were found inside the forest in a suspicious manner and they were detained. Asked about their identity, the duo failed to give a satisfactory reply. But, during interrogation, the Maoist identified himself as Manoj Madkami,” the SP said.
“Manoj is an area committee member of the Bargarh-Bolangir Mahasamund (BBM) Division. He was carrying a reward of Rs 4lakh on his head. He’s under arrest. Manoj is involved in many crimes, including Nuapada’s Sikhya Sahayak Chaitanya Majhi’s murder. There are 12 cases against him in Bargarh district. The latest is of a civilian killing in March this year. Besides, there are scores of torching cases and exchange of fire incidents pending against him,” SP Parmar said.
“We will forward him and his associate to the court,” he said.
The SP also said, “Along with the arrest of this ACM, we have also arrested CPI (Maoist) war ground cadre Grupaleswara Majhi. Both were arrested together. We received information yesterday. We launched a small operation by the Special Operations Group team and caught them from Kumna.”
PNN