Orissa: CRPF jawan held for helping Maoists

A Central Reserve Police Force jawan and a motor mechanic were arrested on Friday for allegedly working for Maoists and providing them information about anti-Naxal operations in Orissa's Sundargarh district, said the police.

Jawan Satyaban Bhoi, 38, was working in the CRPF's intelligence wing and was posted in the 19th battalion of the paramilitary force in Bisra. Mechanic Tarun Das, 26, ran a motor vehicle repair garage at the same place.

Bhoi, who hailed from Kesinga area in Kalahandi district of Orissa, was passing on security related information to Maoists operating in Orissa and Jharkhand through Das, the sources said.

Acting on a tip-off, the police first arrested Das and recovered some gelatin sticks, detonators and Maoist posters from his garage, sources said. Bhoi was picked up on the basis of information obtained from the mechanic during his interrogation.

Das was allegedly supplying explosives and other material to the ultras and also repairing vehicles used by them, the sources said.