A wanted Maoist leader allegedly killed his commander for planning to surrender to the Odisha Police, revealing internal conflicts within the group.
The incident occurred on September 2 at a madrasa located within the Ranpur police station limits of Nayagarh district.
While three persons died in Koraput district, two each died in Jajpur and Ganjam districts, and one each in Dhenkanal and Gajapati districts, they said.
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.
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.
As Odisha and West Bengal are bracing for a severe cyclonic storm, governments of both states started evacuating people and while deciding to close educational institutions in vulnerable areas.
As Cyclone Dana barrels toward the coasts of Odisha, threatening to impact nearly half of the state's population, the government is racing against time to execute a massive evacuation plan aimed at relocating about 10 lakh people in several coastal districts to safety. In West Bengal, the cyclone is set to bring heavy rainfall in several southern West Bengal districts, including Kolkata, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said.
Senior BJP leader and Patnagarh MLA KV Singh Deo and debutant from Nimapara assembly segment Pravati Parida took oath as deputy chief ministers.
A sitting MLA and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate allegedly broke an electronic voting machine (EVM) and attacked a polling officer inside a booth during voting in Odisha which recorded a voter turnout of over 60.97 per cent in six Lok Sabha seats and 42 assembly segments, officials said.
'The BJP is not as mighty a political force in Odisha as it is made out to be.'
Three battalions of the Border Security Force comprising more than 3,000 personnel will move across the border from Odisha to Chhattisgarh and an equal number of Indo-Tibetan Border Police units will further move into the Naxal stronghold of Abujhmad as part of a strategy to intensify anti-Maoist operations in their last bastions, official sources said.
Ruling Biju Janata Dal vice-president Soumya Ranjan Patnaik was removed from his post on Tuesday, months before the simultaneous assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Odisha for allegedly writing critical editorials in his Odia daily.
The incident took place as a large number of people congregated on Badamba-Gopinathpur T-Bridge on the occasion of Makar Mela, a police officer said.
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'It is very likely to move nearly northwards for next few hour and recurve slowly north-northeastwards along Narsapur, Yanam, Kakinada, Tuni and Visakhapatnam coasts during noon to evening on Wednesday and emerge into west central Bay of Bengal off North Andhra Pradesh coasts by night,' the India Meteorological Department said in its national bulletin.
The cyclonic storm is likely to move nearly westwards and cross north Andhra Pradesh-south Odisha coasts between Kalingapatnam and Gopalpur around Sunday evening, the Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD said.
The state government has instructed officials in coastal districts and various departments to be alert to tackle any emergency situation
The orange alert has been issued for moderate or heavy thunderstorms and wind speed with 30-40 km per hour to reach some districts of Odisha within the next three hours.
A large number of Maoists have been killed and four policemen were missing in the continuing gunbattle between security forces and the militants, who killed 15 people on Friday, in the Ganjam-Kandhamal border area of Orissa, official sources said.
Five hardcore Maoists, allegedly involved in a number of violent incidents, surrendered before security forces at two different places in Odisha's Malkangiri and Koraput districts on Tuesday.
In a major achievement for Odisha police, top Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda wanted in over 60 criminal cases, has been arrested prompting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to appeal to Naxals to eschew violence and join the mainstream
At least 29 people were killed after being struck by lightning in different parts of Odisha.
Odisha government has declared lightning as a state-specific disaster.
The toll in anganwadi centre wall collapse in Nayagarh district of Odisha mounted to seven on Tuesday with the death of two more children as the state government sought report from all district collectors on safety of anganwadi buildings by July 13.
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Air dropping of food was suspended after five days on Friday with flood waters receding in the Mahanadi delta in Orissa, as a fresh flood in Baitarani river threatened three districts.
Floods triggered by low pressure induced rains wreaked havoc in cyclone-hit Ganjam and other coastal districts of Odisha, leaving 10 persons dead and lakhs marooned as helicopters launched rescue operations on Friday.
The Orissa police has got a nod from a Delhi court to interrogate top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy in connection with cases of Naxal violence including those relating to killing of police personnel.
Both the incidents occurred in Maoist affected Kandhamal district where the red rebels have asked the people to boycott the elections.
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.
"My government is always prepared for dialogue with the Naxals, but first they should give up arms and the path of violence," Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik told reporters after reviewing the ongoing combing operation against Maoists at a high-level meeting here.
The cyclone, according to an IMD report early Sunday, is developing into a severe cyclonic storm over the Bay of Bengal and can potentially become a very severe cyclonic storm in the next 24 hours, S N Pradhan, the chief of NDRF said in New Delhi.
The security forces nabbed two ultras after intensifying combing operation on the sixth day today, flushing out the Naxals hiding in various jungles in the borders of Kandhmal and Ganjam, after the mayhem. Sources said that Mahipur outpost constable Chintamani Sahu, who was admitted along with seven others at the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, succumbed to the injuries on Wednesday night.
Backed by helicopters and sniffer dogs, over 1,000 policemen intensified their search for the maoists involved in the Nayagarh attack in which 14 policemen and one civilian were killed last Friday after failing to locate them in Gosmah forest, official sources said.
West Bengal and Odisha have evacuated lakhs of people from vulnerable areas to safety as severe cyclonic storm 'Yaas' is nearing the coast and is expected to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district early on Wednesday morning.
At least 14 police personnel and a civilian were killed in a brazen attack by the armed Naxalites on police stations, police training school and a district armory at Nayagarh, about 130 km from Bhubaneswar on Thursday late night.
Several families in Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur and Nayagarh have named their newborn daughters as Titli because they were born either before the very severe cyclone's arrival in the coast or after it made landfall.
Chants of 'Jai Jagannath' rent the air all over as the news about the Supreme Court giving its nod for holding the world famous car festival in the pilgrim town reached the state bringing cheers among people, irrespective of caste, creed and religion.
Exactly a year after the very severe cyclonic storm Phailin struck the state, another storm is heading towards the Odisha coast.
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