80 Maoists surrender to Odisha Police

Bhubaneswar: As many as 80 Maoist supporters and sympathisers surrendered to Odisha Police in Malkangiri district on Friday, while Maoists observed a dawn-to-dusk bandh to protest what they called a spate of fake surrenders.

Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Mitrabhanu Mohapatra said a total of 80 Maoist supporters and sympathisers have surrendered. All of them belong to Badaliguda village.

More than 800 Maoist supporters have surrendered to district police in the last one month, Mohapatra added.

The Maoists of Malkangiri district earlier in a letter appealed to media to oppose "fake surrenders".

Police are lodging false cases against Maoists and consequently forcing them to surrender, said the letter, adding that there were no Maoist supporters among those who surrendered to police recently.

The district administration has beefed up security in the district with additional forces while security personnel are checking vehicles at various checkpoints.

"We have taken adequate security measures to tackle any untoward incident in the district," Mohapatra said.

Following the Maoists' bandh call, most vehicles have remained off the road in the district, police said.