Altogether 18 Naxalites, four of them carrying cash rewards on their heads, surrendered on Wednesday in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Dantewada district, police said.
The Maoists, including a woman, turned themselves in before Dantewada Collector Dipak Soni, Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallava and CRPF officials at the Bhansi police station, expressing a desire to lead a normal life.
The development comes two weeks after the police launched an initiative, named in the local Gondi dialect as 'lon varratu' or 'return to your village/home’ to encourage Naxalites to give up arms.
All the surrendered cadres were active in Bhansi-Kamaloor area under the Bhairamgarh Area Committee of Maoists and were mainly tasked with damaging railway tracks, putting up Maoist banners and posters, spreading Naxalite propaganda and supplying ration to them, Pallava said.
Of those surrendered, Telaam Bhima and Mangal Bhaskar were active as head of the Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisaan Majdoor Sangthan (DAKMS, a frontal wing of Maoists) while Telaam Chaitu and Santu Kunjam headed CNM (Chetna Natya Mandli, a cultural outfit of Maoists), Pallava said. All four carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh each on their heads.
The remaining 14 cadres, all of lower ranks, were working as members of DAKMS and CNM groups, he added. They will be provided assistance as per the Surrender and Rehabilitation policy of the state government, he added.