Overview

• The District Voluntary Force engaged two Area Committee Members, Manku and Chandan, in a firefight in Puranajiaba Reserved Forest that left both cadres dead.
• Officials reported that the operation yielded a significant stockpile of weapons and live ammunition during combing activities.
• Superintendent of Police Harish B.C ordered the raid after receiving precise intelligence on Maoist hideouts in the Baliguda police station area.
• Director General of Police Y B Khurania urged insurgents to surrender and highlighted housing, education and vocational support available through Odisha’s rehabilitation programme.
• This encounter forms part of an intensified intelligence-driven campaign by state and central forces aimed at dismantling Maoist networks before the government’s March 2026 eradication deadline.