Bhubaneswar: The Odisha police opened fire 23 times in 2021, according to a white paper of the home department tabled in the Odisha Assembly Wednesday.
However, the details of the firing incidents have not been mentioned in the paper.
A total of 1,55,420 cognizable cases including 1394 murders, 552 dacoity, 2826 robbery, 5133 burglary, 13,024 theft, 5138 swindling, 2220 rioting, 3327 rape, 10,983 motor vehicle accidents and 1,10,823 miscellaneous cases were reported in the state in 2021.
Out of the 1,55,420 cognizable offence cases, 1,49,232 cases were based on true incidents and chargesheets have been framed in 1,06,283 cases, it said.
The state police, till December last, filed chargesheets in 658 murder cases, 1406 swindling cases, 2335 rape cases and 1377 rioting cases.
In the white paper, the state government said that the overall left-wing extremism scenario in the state remained well under control during the year.
The intensity of CPI Maoist perpetrated violence declined, the cadre strength of Maoists dwindled, the area of influence of the banned outfit shrunk and the mass support base of the Maoists declined during the year, it said.
Out of the 10 districts of the state presently affected by Maoist activities, the situation has improved in most of the areas including in Swabhiman Anchal of Malkangiri district and the Kalahandi-Rayagada-Kandhamal axis due to pro-active security and administrative response. However, the situation remained challenging in a few pockets, it said.
A total of 28 Maoist-related incidents including 21 exchanges of fire on police initiative were reported in the state during the year in which two civilians were killed and one security personnel attained martyrdom.
Seven hard-core Maoists were neutralised in separate incidents of anti-Maoist operations by the security forces while 36 were arrested for their involvement in Maoist activities and 21 surrendered during the period.
Besides, the security forces recovered 30 guns, 48 IEDs and a huge quantity of ammunition, explosive material and other articles during the year.
Proactive steps were taken to augment the security cover in the core Maoist-affected areas and create a secure atmosphere for development activities in those areas, the white paper said.
It claimed that the focus was to ensure time-bound implementation of the surrender and rehabilitation scheme as a part of the composite endeavour to integrate the CPI Maoist cadres into mainstream society.
No terrorist activity has been noticed in the state during 2021 and based on intelligence inputs, the terrorist activities have been contained effectively. However, advisories and alerts are being issues to all SPs from time to time on possible terrorist activities in the state, it added.
IANS