Red outcast Sabyasachi Panda may be arrested

Basadhara dalam chief Nikhil’s purported tirade against Maoist leader Sabyasachi Panda has come at a time when rumours of his surrender abound. While it suggests prima facie that Panda is now an outcast in CPI (Maoist), some label the tape as police-orchestrated. The fact remains though that Panda’s days as a rebel are numbered.

 Behind the confusion and the war of words between Panda and Nikhil is a meticulous plan. Far from surrender, sources say, Panda is likely to be “arrested”.

 “Given his stature, Panda will not give up arms himself. He is most likely to be arrested by police during combing operation,” sources in the State Police said. How that arrest takes place is something which is under wraps as of now.

 Panda, who carries a cash reward of ` 20 lakh on his head, finds himself alone and it was evident from his last audio message in which he described himself as secretary of Odisha Maovadi Party, not CPI (Maoist)’s Odisha unit. While he seems to have parted ways on his own, insiders say he has been shown the door.

 While Panda may have his own outfit, it is too small to take on either the anti-Naxal force or the rival Maoist outfits whose wrath he has earned in the last several months. While intelligence sources say Panda’s team comprises nine members, other sources claim the number may have been even less. This is one of the reasons why he is unlikely to sustain in the forest for long. Now that he has been out of the Maoist party, his rivals have been gunning against him and Panda’s life is presumed to be under threat which police sources said is another reason why he is compelled to return to the mainstream.

 While his arrest will be planned, it will be of great help to police since Panda’s knowledge of the rebels can help the anti-Naxal operation in tackling the rest of the outfits operating in the State. In fact, in his audio tape, Nikhil did spit venom against Panda saying he is hand-in-glove with police, jeopardised the rebels position by being frequently exposing himself to the media and criticising the CPI (Maoist) for alleged tortures.

 Nikhil himself termed Panda as a separatist in the Maoist party itself since he tried to create a rift between cadre members based on their ethnicity and regions they belonged to.