Bhubaneswar: Security has been beefed up along Malkangiri's border with Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh following last Monday's exchange of fire in the district between Maoists and a joint team of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh police.

The encounter that took place at Tikarpadu under Jodamba panchayat of Malkangiri following police raid on a Maoist camp had led to the seizure of at least 45 Maoist kit bags, several rounds of live ammunition, wire bundles, gas cutters and detonators.

Top Maoist leader, Ram Krishna, who was present at the camp where the rebels were suspected to be planning a big operation, had managed to escape.

Senior police officials, who did not wish to be named, said while combing in the entire area had been intensified, Malkangiri's borders with Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh were being sealed.

This has been done to prevent the Maoists from escaping to the two neighbouring states.

The prime target of the security forces combing the forests of Malkangiri and the bordering areas of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh was Rama Krishna or RK, who controls Maoist operations in Odisha and the two states.

The ageing Maoist leader, who had escaped with injuries in an October 2016 encounter with security forces in Malkangiri, has been the mastermind of many important rebel operations against the police and the state government.

He was the brain behind the 2011 kidnapping of the then Malkangiri collector R. Vineel Krishna from the district's "cut-off" area, so called because of its difficult terrain.

However, RK suffered a personal loss in the October 2016 encounter.

His son, Munna was killed along with several other Maoist leaders.

Sources in the police said that since then the Maoist veteran had become both more vengeful and vulnerable.

Additional superintendent of police, Rayagada, Jagannath Rao, who was earlier posted in Koraput, underscored the importance of intensified operation against the rebels in the entire undivided Koraput district.

"This is the belt where they are most active and frequently resort to violence. Hence it is important to curb their activities," said Rao.