On a tip off, the police tracked the criminals, all members of 'Pahadi Cheetah', a dreaded criminal syndicate of neighbouring Jharkhand, in the forests on Odisha-Jharkhand border, during which one of them was killed while others managed to flee.
The identity of the deceased was yet to be established, the sources said adding two pistols and 10 cartridges were seized from the spot.
"The place is far off and unreachable. There is hardly any mobile network. We have got this bit of information so far," the sources said.
'Pahadi Cheetah' is a criminal gang that tried to pose as a Maoist outfit for sometime.