Rajnath Singh calls up Odisha CM, assures Assistance to curb Maoists Menace

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday assured all possible central assistance to Odisha government in its fight against the Maoists. Mr Singh, who is in Bahrain, called up Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and asked for details about yesterday’s Maoists encounter in Malkangiri district of Odisha.

The Chief Minister apprised him of the incident and the prevailing situation in the state.

Notably, 27 Maoists, including their top leaders, were gunned down in a fierce gun battle with security forces in Odisha’s Malkangiri district on the border with Andhra Pradesh yesterday, giving a major blow to the ultras.

A commando of the elite anti-Naxal force, Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh, was also killed and another was injured in the encounter that took place in the cut-off area of remote Chitrakonda area on the Andhra-Odisha border.