Man who had given shelter to Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda arrested

Berhampur (Odisha): Two years after the arrest of Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda, a man who had allegedly given shelter to the high-profile rebel in his house near Bada Bazar here has been arrested, police said.

A Chandra Rao (55), who remained untraced since Panda's arrest from his house at Mangalavarampeta Street near Bada Bazar on July 18, 2014, was caught by a special police team yesterday, additional SP, Berhampur, Tirnath Patel said.

Rao was arrested near a private clinic in New Bus Stand area here by the police team, Patel said.

A mobile phone, some medical documents and cash were seized from him, he added.

Police said a special team has been constituted to interrogate Rao and ascertain his relation with the Maoist leader.

Rao, however, denied having any link with Maoists or Sabyasachi, who he claimed was staying in his house as a tenant in some other name.

"I did not know Sabyasachi. He was staying in the house in the name of Gopal Das, a businessman," Rao said.

During Panda's arrest, the police had seized a revolver, four rounds of ammunition, around half kg of gold ornaments, laptop, four pen-drives, two hard disks, 10 mobile phones and several other items from Rao's house.