Police arrests three Maoists in Orissa

Gajapati (Orissa), Feb 14(ANI): Orissa Police on Saturday arrested three Maoists, including a woman rebel in Gajapati district of the state.

The arrested rebels have been identified as Lagan Majhi alias Murali, Sham Majhi alias Shyam and Arati Majhi.

Addressing the media about the arrests, Gajapati district Superintendent of Police (SP), Sanjeev Arora, said that all the arrested rebels have been involved in a number of attacks.

"Based on specific inputs, we have arrested three Maoists during a combing operation in Gajapati district," Arora said.

Orissa is one of the states battling the Maoist insurgency, and to tackle the situation Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram had recently held a key meeting with four Maoist-affected states in Kolkata.

Chidambaram later extended an olive branch to Maoist rebels and urged them to abjure violence to make headway on talks with the government.

However, the rebels have ignored repeated calls to renounce violence and negotiate and have stepped up their attacks in recent months, prompting the government to go after them in a concerted strike. (ANI)