<p>The “sleeper cells” of Maoists secretly stationed in some of the towns and urban centres in Odisha, including state capital Bhubaneswar, have become super active since the kidnapping of two Italians by the left-wing ultras came to the fore last Sunday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>They have been ably providing their senior cadres deep inside the southern Odisha forests accompanying the two foreign hostages urgently required logistic support like releasing press statements to the media and getting in touch with activists’ brigade sympathetic towards the Maoists’ cause.<br /><br />How intensely active the members of these sleeper cells could be well assessed from the swift manner in which the names of Maoists’ mediators reached the offices of a local media late on Monday within minutes of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s announcement indicating halting of combing operation by the security forces in the Naxal-hit districts.<br /><br />The sleeper cells were also responsible for sending to the local media the audio tape of Maoists’ Odisha in charge Sabyasachi Panda last Sunday in which the most wanted Naxal leader claimed responsibility for the abduction of the two foreign nationals.<br /><br />The fax and e-mail messages carrying the Maoists’ 13-point charter of demands which landed in the offices of local newspapers and TV channels on Monday morning was also the handiwork of the members of the sleeper cells.<br /><br />The police intelligence sources acknowledge that the sleeper cells of the Maoists have become extremely active after they (the Maoists) decided to make the kidnapping episode public last Sunday.<br /><br />“Tell me, can the Maoists send fax messages, e-mails and audio tapes sitting deep inside the jungles. They have been able to do that only with the help of these sleeper cells stationed in different urban centres,” said a highly placed official in the police intelligence.<br /><br />The existence of the Naxals’ sleeper cells in Bhubaneswar had come to light a couple of years ago when the local police and the special branch unearthed such a cell while conducting a raid on a house in the city and arrested Subhasree Panda, the wife of Sabyasachi Panda. <br /><br />Seizure of a mini truck carrying logistics for the Maoists like shoes and dresses on the National Highway five near Balugaon in coastal Khurda district and interrogation of two occupants of the vehicle had helped the police to burst the sleeper cell.<br /></p>
<p>The “sleeper cells” of Maoists secretly stationed in some of the towns and urban centres in Odisha, including state capital Bhubaneswar, have become super active since the kidnapping of two Italians by the left-wing ultras came to the fore last Sunday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>They have been ably providing their senior cadres deep inside the southern Odisha forests accompanying the two foreign hostages urgently required logistic support like releasing press statements to the media and getting in touch with activists’ brigade sympathetic towards the Maoists’ cause.<br /><br />How intensely active the members of these sleeper cells could be well assessed from the swift manner in which the names of Maoists’ mediators reached the offices of a local media late on Monday within minutes of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s announcement indicating halting of combing operation by the security forces in the Naxal-hit districts.<br /><br />The sleeper cells were also responsible for sending to the local media the audio tape of Maoists’ Odisha in charge Sabyasachi Panda last Sunday in which the most wanted Naxal leader claimed responsibility for the abduction of the two foreign nationals.<br /><br />The fax and e-mail messages carrying the Maoists’ 13-point charter of demands which landed in the offices of local newspapers and TV channels on Monday morning was also the handiwork of the members of the sleeper cells.<br /><br />The police intelligence sources acknowledge that the sleeper cells of the Maoists have become extremely active after they (the Maoists) decided to make the kidnapping episode public last Sunday.<br /><br />“Tell me, can the Maoists send fax messages, e-mails and audio tapes sitting deep inside the jungles. They have been able to do that only with the help of these sleeper cells stationed in different urban centres,” said a highly placed official in the police intelligence.<br /><br />The existence of the Naxals’ sleeper cells in Bhubaneswar had come to light a couple of years ago when the local police and the special branch unearthed such a cell while conducting a raid on a house in the city and arrested Subhasree Panda, the wife of Sabyasachi Panda. <br /><br />Seizure of a mini truck carrying logistics for the Maoists like shoes and dresses on the National Highway five near Balugaon in coastal Khurda district and interrogation of two occupants of the vehicle had helped the police to burst the sleeper cell.<br /></p>