Maoist teacher in Capital cop custody

PARADIP: Erasama police handed over Maoist sympathiser Prasant Rout to Bhuabaneswar Police on Monday for investigation.

Rout, involved in Maoist activities, was engaged to teach Oriya language to non-Oriya Naxals during training camp in Jharkhand, Bihar and other states.

Initial investigation revealed that Rout was not a cadre Maoist because he had not used guns and arms during operations. Before the Naygarh incident, there was a training camp at Gashama jungle near Kalinga hill.

The cadre Maoists from Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh participated in the camp. Even they were taught Oriya language to help them mix well with the local people and Rout was engaged for it. Four other Maoist sympathisers surrendered near Erasama police on Monday.

Rout has completed B Sc from SVM College, Jagatsinghpur in 2004 and was giving tuitions to meet his family needs when he was noticed by woman Maoist Krishna. She took him along to Samabalpur and Bargarh in the last six months where he used to teach Oriya to Naxals.

Two months before the Nayagarh incident, he joined the traning camp of Maoists at Gashama jungle and taught Oriya language to non-Oriya Naxals. But he decided to leave the Naxals after the Nayagarh incident.

After getting permission from the Maoist leader, he came to his village with an agreement on last May 4 and decided to surrender.

District SP R K Sharma, CI Sashisekhar Mohapatra and other officials interrogated him