Kamlesh Kumar Ganjhu alias Umesh alias Saket alias Birsai, who was a member of the Special Area Committee of CPI Maoist and operative in Koyal Sankh Zone, Bihar, Jharkhand and North of Chhatisgarh having 77 cases and carrying a reward of 25 lakh on his head today surrendered in Daltonganj without any arms.
The surrender ceremony was witnessed by divisional commissioner Palamu M K Jha, DIG police Vipul Shukla, IG CRPF J Pal, Two SPs Garhwa Shivani Tiwary and Palamu Indrajeet Mahatha and a host of Commandants of CRPF of various battalions like A D Sharma of 134 Bn, S N Mishra 172, Binay Tripathy 11, Ajay Singh 214 etc.
Birsai got a cheque worth 25 lakh drawn on a branch of SBI in Garhwa district.
Birsai joined extremism when he was just 9 or 10 years old. He joined MCC then. In 2004 MCC and PWG merged and CPI (Maoist) outfit was born. Here Birsai showed his organizational skill and ability for expansion of Maoist outfit. He was a big policy maker too. He knew how to take out money for levy as well.
It was said by police here that Birsai was to occupy the seat, which had fallen vacant following the death of Arvind Ji but the Maoists here imposed one South Indian Sudhakar to take the command, which finally pushed Birsai to remain just a SAC member.
Birsai in his speech said that he made outsiders run the writ in the Maoist outfit. Without mentioning the name of Sudhakar, he said locals are marginalised while “bahree aadmi (Outsiders)” are occupying top slot here.
“In this outfit now tribal ultras have no face and weight. Tribal ultras are cast upon with neglect and scorn. They are given raw treatment. I was feeling this over the last 6 months. So I decided to quit and I quit,” he said.
Sources said Intelligence Bureau did a major role in the surrender of this Maoist. It was IB which pursued this case with great care and caution and finally succeeded in winning over Birsai.
Birsai’s wife Raj Kumari Devi said, “IB people used to reach my house in Belgara Tola under Chandwa police station in Latehar district. These IB men were too polite and convincing. Apart from IB, there came two SPs,one of Garhwa and the other of Latehar district.”
Sources said sleuths of IB went on their work without the media knowing it at all. Sources further said IB was adequately assisted by a team of dedicated police officers drawn from Garhwa and Latehar districts.
Birsai’s only daughter is a class 7 student in a prestigious school Don Bosco in Macluskeiganj said Raj Kumari Devi who said, “Our daughter in Don Bosco school used to remain worried about her papa and now she must be the happiest daughter to have her father away from jungles and caves.”
DIG Vipul Shukla said his surrender has fractured Koyal Sankh Zone of the Maoist as the surrender of Aenul in June last year had dented the Madhya Zone of the Maoist.
Garhwa district has 33 cases while Latehar has 44 cases against him said DIG.
If Maoists sneaked in the North of Chhatisgarh it is all due to Birsai as police said this man has had a knack for elongation of base.
As regards Burha Pahar Birsai said, “Maoists’ strength is now depleting here as more and more Maoists are moving out.” He said the Maoists know many political leaders but refrained from dropping any name of the politicians.
In the annals of Palamu this is the biggest surrender of any Maoists having a price of 25 lakh on his head.