Maoist leader and Special Zonal Committee member of Andhra-Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee (AOBSZC) Dubashi Shankar alias Mahender alias Arun was arrested by the Odisha Police in Koraput district on Monday.
According to the Odisha Police, acting on credible intelligence inputs that a group of Maoists were moving in the forest area of Petaguda and Noaro village under Boipariguda police station limits, a joint operation was launched by the DVF, the SOG and the BSF on Sunday night. Shankar was apprehended during a search and cordon operation in the early hours of Monday.
The police recovered one Insas rifle, 10 rounds of ammunition, a mobile phone, a radio, an ear phone, an Amazon kindle device, ₹35,500 in cash among other articles from his possession. However, sources said Shankar had come out of the forest for treatment when he was nabbed. Shankar, a resident of Medak district in Telangana had joined the Indrapuriyal area committee of Maoist group in Telegana in 1987. He worked in Medak till 2004 before being promoted to the rank of SZCM. He was later moved to the AOBSZC and he was inducted into the State Military Commission in 2010.
He is suspected to be involved in two cases reported in Koraput district, 18 cases in Malkangiri district (Odisha), 32 cases in Visakhapatnam district on Andhra Pradesh and 24 cases in Telangana.
He was allegedly involved in exchange of fire in Damajodi in 2009 in which 10 CISF personnel were killed, Govindpalli landmine blast in 2010 in which 11 police personnel died and Janiguda ambush in 2012 that left four BSF personnel dead, including one Commandant.
Shankar was allegedly involved in the exchange of fire reported at Teegalametta in Koyyuru mandal in Visakhapatnam district, in which six Maoists were killed by AP Greyhounds on June 16 and the exchange of fire in Pebbampalli on July 21.
The arrest of Shankar is seen as a big blow to the Maoists operating out of the AOB (Andhra-Odisha Border) region. This was the fourth major blow to the Maoists in this year. In April, Muttannagari Jalandhar Reddy alias Krishna, a SZCM surrendered, followed by the surrender of Chikkudu Chinna Rao alias Sudheer, a divisional committee member, in August. Six Maoists including top leaders Ranadev, Ashok and Nachike, and three women cadres were killed at Teegalametta on June 16.
