A low-intensity explosion took place in Hatia-Bhubaneswar Garib Rath Express near Rourkela in Orissa -- one of the five states where Maoists called a 48-hour bandh on Monday. There have been no casualties in the blast, said the local railway police.
In a series of attacks, Maoists gunned down one person and blew up two government school buildings in Orissa's Malkangiri district early Sunday, the police said.
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.
Four leaders of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad were killed in a Naxal attack at Tumribandha in Kandhamal district of Orissa on Saturday night.
Naseer Khan, the blind actor and co-producer of Shadow, was arrested for his alleged involvement in a multi-crore chit fund scam in Balasore district.
Padmini (28), Minati (26) and Kusumanjali Nayak (24) apparently entered into a suicide pact when there was no one at home.
A former Maoist who broke the law with impunity is now its sworn protector in Orissa's Naxal-infested Sundergarh district.Meet Kanduri Lohar alias Madhuri of Bandamunda village who gave up her green Maoist uniform four years ago to don the khaki. But it was not a smooth transition.
The two PSOs who were travelling with the DIG when the incident occurred were questioned on Monday night and had been taken into custody at Rayagada.
Using the 'Hot Balloon' technique, experts from the Indian Navy brought the launch to the surface on Sunday evening, exactly eight days after it had drowned in an attack by the rebels of the Communist Party of India-Maoist killing more than 30 Greyhound commandos and policemen.
The Orissa High Court has upheld the life term sentenced by a lower court to Surendra Das alias Belu, the kingpin of 1992 Cuttack hooch tragedy, and four others in connection with the murder of a police informer.
The clash on Monday between villagers opposing a steel project and the police had also left 17 others injured. \n
The victims included five policemen, among whom were officer-in-charge Sada Hantal and assistant sub-inspector Silamani Mallick of the Kalimela police station, sources said.
At least six Maoists were killed in a fierce gun-battle with security forces in Orissa's Koraput district on Sunday, said the police. "On the basis of indications from the encounter site, at least six Maoists have been killed," said senior police officers engaged in the anti-Maoist operation in a forest in Podapadar area in Narayanpatna.Earlier reports indicated that at least 10 Maoists had been killed in the encounter.
Amid growing concern over the safety of the missing 28 policemen in a water reservoir on the Andhra-Orissa border, the government of Andhra Pradesh has pressed two more helicopters from the Oil and Natural Gas Commission to help in the search and rescue operations. While the deaths of five policemen have already been confirmed, the senior police officials at the spot have expressed fears that the death toll may go up further to at least 12.
Five small crude bombs along with some crackers were found lying along the tracks near Jharsuguda in Orissa on Saturday, triggering a bomb scare and briefly disrupting rail services on the Mumbai-Howrah route.
Rail and road services were disrupted in some parts of Orissa as a two-day Bharat Bandh called by the Maoists in protest against the death of a top Naxal leader began on Wednesday.
A senior official of a private steel plant died after his vehicle was set afire by some persons outside the factory at Titlagarh, in Orissa on Thursday, police said.
Leaflets had also been distributed in several villages containing the threat: "Those ignoring this directive will not be forgiven."
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday visited the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel site for a review of the rescue operations being carried out there to evacuate 40 labourers trapped inside since Sunday morning following its partial collapse.
In a pre-dawn attack, heavily armed Maoists blew up a railway station and abducted three railway employees in Orissa's Sundargarh district, about 80 km from Rourkela on Tuesday.
Indicating active involvement of Maoist elements in the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Laxamananda Saraswati and four others, the Crime Branch of Orissa police on Friday submitted chargesheet against seven accused. The chargesheet, filed in the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Baliguda in Kandhamal district four months after the killing, said Maoist leaders had formed a local militia involving villagers for the crime.
At least 12 people were killed and more than 150 others injured this evening as a tornado wrought havoc and left trails of devastation at villages in Rajkanika block of Orissa's Kendrapara district.
The well-planned attack, apparently aimed at affecting the upcoming polls and looting weapons, took place shortly after 9.30 pm on Sunday when about 22 CISF personnel were inside a canteen at Asia's biggest bauxite mine. The heavily-armed Maoists, numbering about 200, including some women, looted the CISF armoury in the mine area which contained huge quantities of sophisticated arms and ammunition as well as explosives, police sources said.
Five months after a Catholic nun was allegedly gangraped in Kandhamal, the Orissa police filed a chargesheet on Thursday in the case on the eve of the expiry of stipulated time frame of 120 days.
The nun, missing since the incident and had reportedly taken shelter at a church in Delhi, was not found when Additional Resident Commissioner M Satyanarayan went there last night, Home Secretary T K Mishra told PTI.
"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 incident occurred when about 50 persons from a village in Jharsuguda district were on their way to Sambalpur by the Rourkela-Sambalpur DMU train in connection with a marriage.
The incident comes close on the heels of torture of an eight-year-old boy at Khariar.
Mohanti has been evading police teams from Orissa and Rajasthan since August 24, 2007. A Jaipur court had declared the officer an absconder on the charge that he had helped his son jump parole and go into hiding.
A tribal and his four-year-old daughter were crushed under the wheels of a bus after being allegedly pushed out of the vehicle by its conductor, for paying rupees two less than the exact fare, the police said on Thursday. When the bus started moving, the father and daughter were allegedly pushed out of the bus by the conductor, on state highway no 10. The conductor and driver were later arrested.
The website says that Ashok Chakra can be awarded to officers, men and women of all ranks of Army, Navy and Air Force, any reserve forces, Territorial Army, Militia and of any other lawfully constituted forces, including the Military Nursing Services (MNS).
As the Centre prepares to launch a massive operation against the Maoists, police in the Naxal-hit Andhra Pradesh have a reason to rejoice this year.
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