Maoist with ₹4L bounty on head among 3 dead

Bhubaneswar: Lalit, a 34-year-old native of Gampur village under Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, was identified as one of the three Maoists killed in an encounter in Kalahandi district on Tuesday (May 9). Lalit, who carried Rs 4 lakh reward on his head, was an active and hardcore member of Rahul Area Committee of the Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh division of Odisha State Committee of Maoists.
Efforts are on to identify the other two. Police suspect they too were residents of Chhattisgarh. Lalit had become local organisation squad commander and in-charge of the action committee. He was involved in setting fire to construction camps at Laharhi and Jhirpani in Kandhamal district in 2020.
He was also allegedly involved in an attack on a polling party near Barahala village under Gochhapada police station limits of Kandhamal district 2019 in which a civilian was killed. He was involved in the killing of two persons in 2021 and one last year.