Nine Naxalites surrender in Chhattisgarh
Nine Naxalites carrying a cumulative reward of Rs 47 lakh surrendered before police in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district on Friday, a senior official said.
The surrendered cadres, including seven women, belonged to the Nagri and Sitanadi area committees and Mainpur Local Guerrilla Squad (LGS) under the Dhamtari-Gariaband-Nuapada division in Odisha committee of Maoists, said Amresh Mishra, Inspector General of Police, Raipur Range. They turned themselves in before senior police officials, citing disappointment with the hollow Maoist ideology and hardships of forest life, and said that they were also impressed by the State Government’s surrender and rehabilitation policy, he said. Of the surrendered ultras, Jyoti alias Jaini (28), secretary of the Sitanadi area committee, and Usha alias Balamma (45), a divisional committee member, carried a reward of Rs 8 lakh each, he said. Six others, Ramdas Markam (30), Roni alias Uma (25), Niranjan alias Podia (25), Sindhu alias Somadi (25), Reena alias Chiro (25), and Amila alias Sanni (25), carried a bounty of `5 lakh each, while Lakshmi Punem (18) carried a reward of Rs 1 lakh, he said.
Balamma belongs to Telangana, while others are from different districts of Chhattisgarh, he said.
“With this development, all listed cadres — from the lowest to the top ranks — operating in Dhamtari and Gariaband districts under the Raipur police range, as well as in the adjoining Nuapada district of Odisha, have either been killed, surrendered, or are no longer active in the area,” he said.
Five of the cadres surrendered with two Insas rifles, two Single Loading Rifles (SLRs), a carbine and a muzzle-loading gun, the official said. Mishra said sustained efforts were being made to persuade all active Maoist area committees in the district to surrender under the Government’s rehabilitation policy.
With this, 189 Naxalites have surrendered in the state so far this year. On January 19, nine Naxalites carrying a cumulative reward of Rs 45 lakh surrendered in the adjoining Gariaband district. On January 15, at least 52 ultras, 49 of them carrying a collective bounty of more than Rs 1.41 crore, surrendered in Bijapur district, which falls in the Bastar region of the State.
