Bhubaneswar: Security has been beefed up along Malkangiri district's border with Chhattisgarh to check the possible entry of Maoists from the neighbouring state.

Sources said the precautionary step had been taken in the wake of killing of 30 Maoists by security forces in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district bordering Chhattisgarh on April 22.

"With security forces turning the heat on them, there is a distinct possibility of the rebels in Gadchiroli sneaking into Chhattisgarh and then crossing the border and entering Odisha districts such as Malkangiri and Koraput," said a senior police officer.

A similar alert had been sounded in Malkangiri, Odisha's best known Maoist bastion, in 2013 following the Darbha massacre scripted by the rebels in Chhattisgarh in which the state's top Congress leadership was almost entirely eliminated.

Sources said security had been tight in Malkangiri since February when the security forces had destroyed a Maoist camp at Tikarpadu under Jodamba panchayat of the district. The encounter had led to the seizure of at least 45 Maoist kit bags, several rounds of live ammunition, wire bundles, gas cutters and detonators. However, top Maoist leader Rama Krishna, who was present at the camp, had fled.

This was the second time that Rama Krishna or RK, who controls Maoist operations in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, had eluded security forces. In October 2016, he had escaped with injuries following a fierce encounter with police and central forces on Malkangiri-Chhattisgarh border. As many as 21 Maoists, including RK's son Munna, had been killed in this encounter.

Rayagada additional superintendent of police Jagannath Rao, who had earlier been posted in Koraput, repeatedly underscored the importance of intensified operation against the rebels in the entire undivided Koraput.

"This belt is considered to be particularly vulnerable because of its geographical proximity to Chhattisgarh and Andhra, where the Maoists are well entrenched. There is always a possibility of rebels sneaking into Malkangiri and Koraput from these neighbouring states," said a source.