Ahead of Centre’s March 31 deadline to eliminate Left Wing Extremism, once described as the country’s gravest internal security threat, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police Siva Shankar Nayak reflects on the past decade of his life – marked by encounters with Naxals.
Deployed in several anti-Naxal operations in Odisha, Mr. Nayak, now posted at a police station in Malkangiri district, has earned six police medals for gallantry, including the President’s Police Medal.
But the accolades didn’t come without a cost, he said. “My wife and daughter have spent countless sleepless nights. Every time I returned home at odd hours after an encounter or a narrow escape during anti-Naxal operations, I could see how relieved they were,” Mr. Nayak recalled.
Subrat Majhi (name changed) still plans anti-Naxal operations long after his years in active combat. In over two decades with Odisha Police, he too has earned six gallantry medals. Anonymity, he said, sharpened his focus in the fight against the Red Rebels.
Inside Maoists’ fortress
