A team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday started an investigation into the loot of huge quantity of explosives by Maoists in Odisha’s Sundargarh district.

Senior officers including a deputy inspector-general, superintendent of police and additional superintendent of police visited Rourkela. The NIA has started an investigation into the loot of around 200 packets of gelatin being transported to a stone quarry at Banko in Sundergarh district on Tuesday by Maoists.

“The Odisha police is providing all required assistance to the NIA for undertaking the probe into the loot of explosives,” DIG, Western Range, Brijesh Rai told reporters at Rourkela.

He said the police have registered a case in this regard based on the statement of the driver of the truck which was transporting the explosives.

On Tuesday afternoon, the loot took place in the area in close vicinity of Saranda forests in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, considered the hotbed of Maoists.

Official sources said around 30 to 40 Maoists gheraoed the truck and decamped after looting the explosives. The consignment was meant for stone blasting at a quarry under K. Balanga police station in Sundergarh.

The truck driver, Debnath Toppo, said the Maoists spared him after he pleaded for mercy.

The DIG said the Maoists might have entered Sundergarh from neighbouring Jharkhand. The place of loot was in close proximity to West Singhbhum district in Jharkhand.

Rai said as per the direction of director-general of police (DGP) Y. B. Khurania, who visited the spot on Wednesday, the police have launched a search operation. On Wednesday, DGP Khurania along with inspector-general of police (Operation) Deepak Kumar, DIG Rai and Sundargarh SP Pratyush Diwakar held a series of closed-door meetings and reviewed the situation.

The Odisha police along with security personnel of Jharkhand and CRPF have intensified operations along the Odisha-Jharkhand border.

Maoist arrested

A Maoist was apprehended along with arms and ammunition, including an AK-47 rifle, following an exchange of fire with police in Odisha’s Koraput district on Thursday.

The arrested Maoist was identified as Kunjam Hidma.

“He was caught alive inside the dense Petaguda forest in Koraput district during the encounter,” Koraput superintendent of police (SP) Rohit Verma told reporters at Koraput.

The SP said based on intelligence inputs regarding the movement of a group of banned CPI(Maoist) cadres in the forest area near Petguda, a special operation was launched by district police using the DVF (district voluntary force) force on the night of May 28.

The police said that Hidma joined the Maoist organisation in 2007 at the age of 14, being inducted into the Bal Sangham and the Jana Natya Mandali (JNM), the cultural wing of Maoists. From 2007 to 2013, he was working with the Bal Sangham and the JNM.

Between 2013 and 2015, Hidma worked as a party member under the Usur Local Organisation Squad and received military training, during which he was issued a single-shot rifle. In 2016, he started operating in AOB (Andhra Odisha Border) platoon. In 2019, Hidma was promoted to the rank of ACM (Area Committee Member) and was provided with an SLR rifle.

During 2021–2022, he was assigned to AOB Platoon Section-01, operating at Pamed in Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh. In 2023, Hidma was transferred to Platoon-24 at Kerlapal in Sukma district. In 2024, he was temporarily moved to Platoon-26 operating in Malengiri, Sukma. Hidma had returned to the AOB unit in May, 2025.

Additional reporting by PTI