The Hindu : Other States / Orissa News : Police spread the dragnet for Maoists in urban centres

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Police spread the dragnet for Maoists in urban centres

Staff Reporter

Several persons detained for interrogation, let off; rights groups cry foul

No question of slackness in efforts to track down Maoists, say police
Innocent people are in a state of panic, say rights activists

BHUBANESWAR: After intelligence wings reported that Maoists, who carried out the attacks on police establishment in Nayagarh recently, found their way into the population of urban centres of coastal Orissa, the State police cracked the whip by picking up several persons on grounds of suspicion.

The Bhubaneswar police on Friday reportedly detained eight persons from the city and were said to have let them off immediately. In the morning, five persons were rounded up by the police inside a bus near railway station in full public view.

“We did pick up some persons but they were let off within 15 minutes,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Amitabh Thakur said.

While suspected persons were being whisked away by the police, several organisations were getting prepared to stage a demonstration on the busy Mahatma Gandhi Marg. In the afternoon, three persons were apprehended and taken to the Badagada police station for interrogation.

All the top police brass were tight-lipped about the operation of tracking Maoist suspects in the Capital city. Sources in Cuttack police said some six persons were detained on ground of suspicion from Choudwar area.

On Thursday, three persons were detained in Puri after the police followed them from a Bhubaneswar-based hotel.

A person, who was said to be a sympathiser of naxalites, was called for interrogation in Jagatsinghpur. He was identified as Debendra Das. After a girl from Jagatsinghpur district was found to have participated in the recent naxalite attack, the district police launched massive verification activities.

“We are verifying those residents who have long been absent from villages. Our focus is on artistes of opera parties who have been leading lives keeping distance from their original family,” Jagatsinghpur Superintendent of Police R.K Sharma said. Opera party operators were asked to register antecedents of artistes joining their groups, Mr. Sharma said.

Meanwhile, human rights activists raised objections against police actions. “Innocent people are being interrogated in an indiscriminate manner. It is a serious human rights violation. It does not only cause mental trauma to those who are being arrested but also it is creating a panic among innocent people,” rights activist Biswapriya Kanungo said.

Despites the hue and cry, there would be no slowdown in the efforts on the part of the police to track down the people who would be found in dubious activities, a top police official said.

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