Odisha: Three fake Naxals held for extortion in Kalahandi, to be tested for COVID-19

Three people were arrested for allegedly extorting money from a person by posing as a Naxals in Jaipatna area of Kalahandi district on Sunday, police said. They all will be tested for COVID-19.

"Three people were arrested for allegedly extorting money from a person by posing as Naxals in Jaipatna area of Kalahandi district yesterday. They will be tested for COVID-19," said Dharmagarh Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) LN Panda said.

On Saturday, security forces and Naxalites exchanged fire for about 30 minutes in the Gandhamardan reserve forest area under Paikmal police station, before the Naxalites managed to escape into the dense forest.

The Special Operations Group (SOG) teams of Bargarh-Bolangir and CRPF platoons seized live ammunition and empty cartridges from the Naxals in the joint operation, police said.

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12 Naxals surrender

Twelve Naxals, five of them collectively carrying a reward of Rs 6 lakh on their heads, surrendered in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district on Sunday, police said.

The cadres turned themselves in before police and the CRPF officials in Dantewada town saying that they were impressed by the rehabilitation campaign being run by the local police and disappointed with the hollow Maoist ideology, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava told PTI.

Dantewada MLA Devti Karma was also present on the occasion, he said.

Of these ultras, Chanduram Sethiya, who was active as a member of platoon no. 26 of Maoists, was allegedly involved in three Naxal attacks, including in Bhusaras-Chingavarm in 2008, wherein 23 policemen and two civilians were killed, he said.

Sethiya was carrying a reward of Rs 2 lakh on his head, Pallava said.

Four other surrendered ultras- Lakhmu Hemla, Sunil Tati, Manu Mandavi and Maituram Barsa- who were working in different capacities in separate areas of south Bastar, were carrying rewards of Rs 1 lakh each on their heads, he said.

The remaining seven naxals were active as lower-rung Maoist members, he said.

(With ANI and PTI inputs)

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