Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced a special cash reward of Rs 10 lakh each for Balangir and Kandhamal police for their success in gunning down seven Maoists in separate encounters on Sunday, even as one more rebel was killed in a joint operation by the special operations group, Border Security Force and Andhra police's Greyhound jawans in Malkangiri district.
Additional director-general of police (operations) R.P. Koche said the Maoist, who is yet to be identified, was shot dead on Thursday during a combing by the security forces near the Balimela reservoir. An SLR and a 303 rifle were seized from the spot.
The Maoists, who had been camping in the area, also triggered landmine blasts during the gunfight with the forces. The rebel's body was brought to Malkangiri town by a helicopter on Friday.
Naveen, who renewed his appeal to the rebels to return to the mainstream, announced the cash rewards at a high-level meeting held at the secretariat to review the ongoing operations against the Maoists. The meeting was attended, among others, by chief secretary A.P. Padhi, director-general of police R.P. Sharma and police superintendents of Balangir and Kandhamal. Naveen said the government was also planning to felicitate the police personnel, who took part in the anti-Maoists operations in Balangir and Kandhamal.
Later talking to reporters, Sharma said the reward money announced by the chief minister would be distributed among the police parties and intelligence agencies involved in the operations.
"This will boost the morale of the security forces, including police jawans, engaged in the anti-Maoist operations," said Sharma.
The highly successful operations against the Maoists in Balangir and Kandhamal districts on Sunday were carried out exclusively by the state police. While two teams of the police's special operations group had gunned down five Maoists, including two women cadres, in Kandhamal's Gadanki village, two rebels with bounties on their heads were killed in a gunfight with the forces in Balangir.
The success of the state police had drawn praise from Union home minister Rajnath Singh, who called up Naveen on Monday to get the details of the operations. Naveen later tweeted: "Union Home Minister Shri @rajnathsingh called me & congratulated @odisha_police on it's stupendous success in anti-Maoist operations in #Odisha. In democracy there is no place for violence. I appeal to them to drop weapons & join the mainstream."
A day later, Odisha director-general of police met his Andhra counterpart at a high-level meeting in Vishakhapatnam where they decided to launch joint operations against the rebels.
Additional reporting by Lelin Mallick