State police confirm death of two cops in Kalahandi anti-Maoist op
Bhubaneswar: An anti-Maoist operation, which led to the killing of five suspected rebels in Kalahandi district on Wednesday, also saw the death of two police personnel, state police confirmed on Thursday.
The policemen were identified as Sudhir Kumar Tudu (28) and Debasis Sethy (27), both jawans of the special operation group (SOG), a specialized anti-Maoist force of Odisha Police.
Director-general of police (DGP) Abhay, along with other senior police officers, visited Kalahandi on Thursday and paid homage to the slain SOG jawans. “We are proud of our bravehearts. They attained martyrdom while fighting bravely against the Maoists. They exhibited exemplary courage. This is the reason why we hold our head high today. We salute them,” Abhay said.
The DGP, intelligence director R K Sharma and IG (operations) Amitabh Thakur later reviewed anti-Maoist strategies in Kalahandi.
The death of the two jawans marks this year’s first LWE casualty in state police. The identities of the five suspected Maoists who were killed on Wednesday had not been ascertained till the time of going to press.
“We managed to find out the names of two of the deceased, but we still verifying facts. They are suspected to be members of the Bansadhara-Ghumusar-Nagavali (BGN) division of CPI (Maoist),” another officer said.
Left-wing extremism violence has declined in the state in the past few years. At least 13 Maoists have so far been killed in different districts this year.