NIA Quizzes Top Maoist Leader Dubasi Shankar In Bhubaneswar Jharpada Jail

A special team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday questioned top Maoist leader Dubasi Shankar alias Arun in connection with killing of four BSF personnel in an ambush near Malkangiri’s Balimela in 2012.

Sources said Arun was earlier brought to Bhubaneswar Jharpada jail from Boipariguda jail on the order of the Jeypore SDJM court.

The NIA team had earlier filed a petition with the Jeypore SDJM seeking permission to interrogate the top Maoist leader. The investigation agency wants to elicit more information regarding the Maoist ambush in which four BSF personnel were martyred in 2012.

Arun was an active member of the CPI (Maoist) since 1987 and involved in a series of violent attacks in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The top Maoist leader, who was wanted in several crimes, carried a cash reward of Rs 20 lakh on his head. He was arrested by the security forces in Koraput on September 14 this year.

It is pertinent to mention here that Odisha Police has been successful in combating the left wing extremism in several parts of the State.