Thee Maoists arrested from Orissa

Sambalpur (Orissa), Jan 17 (PTI) Three hardcoreMaoists, including two women, were arrested and a hugequantity of arms and explosives recovered from them inOrissa''s Sambalpur district today, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, jawans of the District VoluntaryForce (DVF) and India Reserve Battalion (IRB) conducted asearch operation in Gariakhaman forest and nabbed the trio,Superintendent of Police Asit Panigrahi said.

The three rebels were identified as Sulochana Garnaik,first lady cadre of Sambalpur-Deogarh-Sundargarh zone, SaritaSingh, a hardcore naxal of Jharkhand who is wanted in manycases, and Satyaban Mirdha.

A huge quantity of arms, ammunition and explosivesincluding electronic detonator, codex wire bundles, eightgelatine sticks and a country-made pistol were recovered fromthe ultras, the SP said adding some naxal literature anduniform were also seized.

While Sulochana was wanted in about 20 cases inDeogarh, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Sundargarh and Nayagarh, Saritawas involved in almost all naxal violence in Rourkela andJharkhand area, he said.

Satyaban is the younger brother of hardcore naxalGanesh alias Rahul Mirdha and instrumental in providinglogistics and actively participating in recent reorganisationof the naxal activity in Sambalpur area, police said addingthe involvement of these ultras in other parts of Orissa isunder investigation.