The interrogation report of top Maoist leader Misir Besra, arrested from Jharkhand last year, could have served as a warning about what was coming in Orissa. Besra, also known as Sunirmal and Sunil, is learnt to have told security agencies that there were plans for a major strike in Orissa’s Bargarh sometime in December.

The plan was to swarm the Bargarh armoury, which had been identified for its weak security, and rob arms and ammunition. There was no attack in Bargarh. The Naxalites struck at the Nayagarh armoury and police stations instead, leaving 13 policemen and two civilians dead.

The timing and the location seem to have been changed after Besra, a member of the Naxalites’ Central Military Commission, was arrested in September, official sources said.

“Maoists are setting up an Orissa organising committee to boost their presence in the state and the attack seems to be part of this exercise,” said a senior police officer.

Friday night’s attack on the armoury, police station and a police training school in Nayagarh and another police station nearby has sent out a chilling reminder — Maoist cadres are well-entrenched and are going through a continuous process of consolidation. The district is not part of the five worst affected in the state but with this attack, they have managed to demonstrate a presence beyond their traditional strongholds, state police sources said.

However, Ajai Sahni of the Institute for Conflict Management said it would be wrong to say that Naxalites were now getting active in new areas. “They have been deeply entrenched in Orissa for a long time as the response from security forces has not been too effective,” he maintained.

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