The Odisha Maovadi Party (OMP), the recently floated Maoists’ outfit headed by Sabyasachi Panda alias Sunil has called for an Odisha bandh on Tuesday to protest against the recent police encounter in tribal-dominated Gajapati district in which five members of the group were killed.
In an audio tape released to media, Panda has also appealed the people to observe the day as a black day. The gun battle between the Maoists and the police last Wednesday had also left two jawans of the Odisha police’s injured. Large number of arms and ammunitions have also been recovered from the spot. Panda, the most wanted Maoist leader in the state for a long time, however, described the encounter as a “planned mass murder” orchestrated by the police.
“None of my cadres have been killed. Those who have been gunned down by the police were innocent villagers. After eliminating them, the police dressed them up to show the world that they were Maoists”, the senior naxal leader who had broken away from the CPI(Maoists) early this year to form his own organization said.
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