Police and district administrators pay tribute to the deceased policeman in Nuapada. Telegraph picture

Nuapada, May 25: A Maoist-turned-police officer from Orissa was among those killed in the ambush by Naxals at Sunabeda forest of Nuapada district on Monday evening.

Goura Jhankar (20), a special police officer (SPO) with the Chhattisgarh police was identified as hailing from the Sunabeda forest area.

After post-mortem, Jhankar’s body was brought to Nuapada by a special chopper of the Chhattisgarh government late last night. Today, policemen paid their last respects to the deceased cop at the Armed Reserve Police (APR) field in Nuapada. Superintendent of police (SP), Rajesh Uttamrao Pandit, district collector, Janaki Ballav Mishra, and chief district medical officer (CDMO), Bajrangbali Jagat, offered floral tributes to the dead policeman.

Later, the administration sent his body to his village Thalipani in the Sunabeda sanctuary. The district collector sanctioned Rs 5,000 from the Red Cross to the family of the deceased policeman.

Police sources said Jhankar was known as a Maoist who used to operate in the Sunabeda forest along the Orissa-Chhattisgarh border. About six months ago, he was nabbed by the Chhattisgarh police and appointed as an SPO in the Gariaband district of Chhattisgarh as he had vowed to give up Maoists activities. As Jhankar hailed from the Maoist-infested Sunabeda forest, he would often accompany the Chhattisgarh police when they used to travel across the border to Orissa. It was during one such journey that the Maoists allegedly made him their target.

Villagers of Sunabeda said that there had always been danger to Jhankar’s life ever since he joined the police force. “As one of their comrades was now with the police, it posed a threat to the Maoists and they wanted to eliminate him. Ever since he joined the police, we knew that there had always been a danger to his life,” said a villager on condition of anonymity.

Pandit said Jhankar had decided to severe his link with the Maoists to serve the police.

“After he joined the police, the Maoists made him their target. Jhankar had accompanied the police team that travelled to the villages within the Sunabeda sanctuary. The Maoists somehow managed to know about presence of the team in the forest. They ambushed the police team killing them, including Jhankar,” he said.