Top Maoist leader Ganesh Uike and five other red rebels were killed in gun battles with security forces in Odisha's Kandhamal district.
Odisha Police intensifies operations in Kandhamal district after neutralizing four Maoists, including a high-value target. Combing operations are underway to apprehend more ultras.
Meanwhile, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) issued high sea waves, up to 4.7 metres high, warning across several coastal districts.
Severe cyclonic storm 'Montha' has begun making landfall off the Andhra Pradesh coast, with the process expected to continue for the next three to four hours. The storm is expected to cross the coast between Machilipatnam and Kalingapatnam, near Kakinada, with wind speeds of 90-100 kmph.
Chalapathi, a top leader of the CPI(Maoist) and a key figure in the 2008 Nayagarh armoury attack in Odisha, was killed in a gunfight with security forces at the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border. He was one of 14 Maoists killed in the encounter, which lasted for two days. Chalapathi, who had been a mystery to security agencies for decades, was eventually identified through a selfie with his wife, Aruna, found in an abandoned smartphone. He was considered an expert in military tactics and guerrilla warfare and had played a significant role in expanding the Maoist network in Odisha.
The first death anniversary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmanananda Saraswati, whose killing triggered anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal district in Orissa was peaceful on Thursday.
"As many as seven companies of paramilitary forces were deployed in troubled areas of the district to strengthen security and prevent further flare up," Kandhamal District Collector Krishan Kumar said.
The relief camp at Tiangia under 'G' Udayagiri block housing 500 people, was the last one to be closed on Friday, Kandhamal District Magistrate Krishna Kumar told PTI over the phone. Altogether 25,000 people were housed in over 15 relief camps during the violence in the aftermath of the killing of senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxamananda Saraswati on August 23, 2008, Kumar said.
More than 5,000 security men were deployed and a helicopter pressed into surveillance on Wednesday in riot-hit Kandhamal district of Orissa as Christians there prepared to celebrate Christmas amidst a feeling of insecurity.The government sealed all entry points to Kandhamal, which witnessed large-scale violence following the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmananda Saraswati.The state government has identified Sambalpur and Sundergarh as sensitive districts.
As the situation in strife-torn Kandhamal improved with intensified patrolling, the authorities on Friday lifted the day curfew clamped in nine police station limits, but decided to continue with the night curfew for an indefinite period. State Director General of Police M M Praharaj, who toured the troubled pockets of Kandhamal and held a high level review meeting with senior district officials, directed the police to take strong action against the rioters.
"As many as 35 persons have been arrested from different parts of the district in connection with the violent incidents and rioting in several areas," Deputy Inspector General of Police R P Koche told PTI.
The houses, a church and a prayer hall were either torched or damaged by miscreants at Raikia, G Udaygiri, Daringibadi and some other areas, sources said.
A high alert has been sounded in all 14 police station areas in Orissa's Kandhamal district following the revelation by an arrested Maoist that an attack by the ultras was being planned. The Maoist, Jagannath Nayak, was arrested from village Kerubadi under Daringbadi police station five days ago. He has told interrogators that 150 Koya Kondh Maoists from neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were being trained in the jungles of Kandhamal for the operation.
According to weather officials, wind speeds along and off the Odisha-West Bengal coasts are anticipated to reach 60 km/h from October 23, increasing to 120 km/h from October 24 night to October 25 morning.
Firebrand Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia was arrested on Friday alongwith his supporters by the Orissa Police as they tried to enter riot-hit Kandhamal district, defying a ban on their visit.
With many people yet to return to their villages in Kandhamal despite restoration of normalcy in the riot-ravaged district, the Orissa government will soon issue media advertisements assuring the displaced of full protection. "We will soon go to the media, appealing to people to return to their villages in Kandhamal, as normalcy has been restored. The district has been violence free for the last 15 months," said Kandhamal's Special Administrator M S Padhy.
The district administration of Kandhamal, which has been violence-free for about a year, on Tuesday decided not to allow VHP leader Pravin Togadia to visit the town.
3 persons were convicted while six others were acquitted by a court in Cuttack in connection with the nun rape case in Odisha's Kandhamal district during the 2008 communal riots.
With Christians in riot-hit Kandhamal afraid to perform midnight mass in churches located in remote areas on Christmas eve, Orissa government on Tuesday promised adequate security to ensure a peaceful festival this time, official sources said. "We have made elaborate security arrangements in Kandhamal and elsewhere in the state," Home Secretary Aditya Padhi told reporters after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
The district administration has prohibited the entry of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia to sensitive Kandhamal in Odisha on Saturday fearing trouble.
Assuring that tribals will never indulge in violence at riot-ravaged Kandhamal district, the Kui Samaj Samanwaya Samiti on Monday demanded an immediate withdrawal of CRPF jawans from rural pockets of the tribal dominated district. "I can assure in writing that the tribals will never go for violence again as the state government has announced a good package for Kandhamal," Samiti secretary Lambodar Kanhar told PTI over phone.
All entry points to the riot-ravaged Kandhamal district of Orissa were sealed and security tightened in view of a special prayer meeting to be held later on Friday to pay homage to slain VHP leader Laxmanananda Saraswati.
With law and order situation improving in Orissa's riot-scarred Kandhamal district, day curfew was suspended on Monday even as the death toll rose to 16 with the recovery of two bodies.
Notwithstanding the shoot-at-sight order imposed in eight blocks of riot-ravaged Kandhamal, violence continued on Thursday in remote areas of the communally sensitive district in a backlash to the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxmanananda Saraswati.Information about some incidents were received from some remote places of Tikabali, G Udaygiri and other areas while the situation was under control in most areas of Kandhamal, said District Collector Krishan Kumar.
Activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal staged a demonstration in New Delhi on Saturday against the ban on their leader Praveen Togadia's visit to Orissa's Kandhamal district. The Orissa government has imposed a ban on VHP leader Togadia from entering the communally sensitive Kandhamal district."The state government didn't stop foreign missionaries from going to tribal areas of Kandhamal and other parts of Orissa," said a VHP leader.
Conversion and re-conversion were among the major factors which led to the riots in Orissa's Kandhamal district last year, a judicial commission probing the violence has said. "Suspicion among the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste inhabitants of Kandhamal is the main cause of riots with the tribals suspecting that 'Pano' dalits were capturing their land through fraudulent means," Justice Mohapatra said. Fake certificates were another major factor that created discontent.
The Kui Samaj Samanwya Samiti, a body of tribals, on Tuesday announced its plan to field candidates both for the Lok Sabha and assembly seats in riot ravaged Kandhamal district in Orissa.KSSS could also field its candidates in other tribal dominated districts like Balangir, Subarnapur, Kalahandi and Daspalla assembly seat in Nayagarh district.
Two persons were hacked to death by unidentified persons in the sensitive Tumudibandha area of Orissa's riot-hit Kandhamal district, official sources said on Friday.District Collector of Kandhamal Krishan Kumar said that the killings took place at Sindhupanka village in the Tumudibandha police station area late on Thursday night.Nobody was arrested and efforts were on to capture the culprits, sources said.
At least two persons were killed and two others, including a Central Reserve Police Force jawan, injured after security personnel opened fire following gun shots by a group of rioters in Tumudibandh area of Orissa's riot-torn Kandhamal district on Saturday, official sources said.
A fast track court has acquitted three persons in a case relating to the killing of a physically handicapped youth during the 2008 Kandhamal riots.
25 persons allegedly involved in the Kandhamal communal riots in Odisha in 2008 were acquitted by a local court due to lack of proper evidence against them.
A Central Reserve Police Force jawan was found murdered in Orissa's Kandhamal district as stray incidents of violence in the riot-torn area showed little signs of abating.
Additional forces were deployed and curfew clamped in sensitive areas of Orissa's Kandhamal district on Thursday in the wake of fresh violence and arson in the region.Nearly 100 houses and a couple of churches and prayer houses were either set afire or damaged in about half-a-dozen places under Daringibadi, G Udaygiri and Tikabali police stations in the wee hours of Thursday morning, sources said.
Police said miscreants torched several houses late Monday night, triggering retaliation from the affected communities, resulting in a bloody clash in which firearms were used by both the communities.
Shoot at sight order was issued on Wednesday in curfew-bound areas of violence-hit Kandhmal district of Orissa.
A fast track court in Phulbani in Orissa on Tuesday acquitted nine persons in a case relating to communal riots in Kandhamal in 2008.
Visiting diplomats from the European Union faced protest from Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists at the Bhubhaneshwar airport as soon as they landed in Orissa, on Tuesday. The diplomatic delegation comprised representatives from Hungary, Poland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Britain, Finland and Sweden.
A residential school for girls founded by late Swami Laxmananda Saraswati in Kandhamal district has received a threat that its authorities would meet the same fate as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader who was killed in 2008.
KV Singh Deo and Pravati Parida were made deputy chief ministers of the state, he said.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, whose killing last year had triggered riots, had rejected the police's request for deployment of security personnel within the campus of Jalespeta ashram on the grounds that it would not suit its atmosphere.
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