RAIPUR: Nineteen Maoists including Deva Padam, a prominent member of the PLGA Battalion number one carrying a cash reward of Rs 8 lakh, surrendered to the police and CRPF on Monday in insurgency-hit Bijapur district of Bastar division.
Deva Padam, along with his wife Dule Kalmu and 17 other comrades, who carried a cumulative bounty of Rs 28 lakh, voluntarily laid down arms in the presence of senior officials. Of these Deva had joined the Maoist ranks in 2007 and his wife Kalmu joined in 2017 and they carried bounty of Rs 8 lakh each.
Citing disappointment with “hollow” and “inhuman” Maoist ideology, exploitation of innocent tribals by senior cadres and differences brewing within the outlawed outfit, the Maoists decided to surrender, said Bijapur Senior Superintendent of Police Jitendra Kumar Yadav in a press briefing.
SSP added that the cadres expressed they were impressed with the results of new camps, Niyad Nellanar scheme and increasing influence of the security forces. “The District Reserve Guard, Bastar Fighters, Special Task Force, CRPF and its elite unit CoBRA played a key role in their surrender,” SSP said.
Yadav said that all the surrendered cadres were active in different capacities in the Andhra-Odisha Border (AOB) division and Pamed area committee of Maoists.
Among the other prominent cadres were Suresh Kattam, was active as area committee member and carried a reward of Rs 5 lakh, while another Maoist had a bounty of Rs 2 lakh, and five others were carrying rewards of Rs 1 lakh each.
All the surrendered Naxalites were provided assistance of Rs 25,000 each and will be rehabilitated as per the government’s policy, the official added.
Bijapur has off late recorded a spate in surrender of Maoists including the most recent one of Dinesh Modiyam who was “the most dreaded Maoist” of Bijapur with charges of more than 200 murders of security personnel and local residents.
SSP said that 84 Naxalites have surrendered in Bijapur district this year, adding that this surrender demonstrates the growing disillusionment among Maoists, especially due to internal discord, exploitation, and the government’s peace-oriented policies.
Yadav made an appeal to other Maoists still active in the forests to take advantage of the government’s rehabilitation policy. He emphasized that the policy, which offers new opportunities for a peaceful life, has helped many former insurgents reintegrate into society.
In another significant operation a team from the CRPF’s 199th Battalion detected and defused a three kg IED planted by Maoists, about 800 meters from the Pidiya police camp on the Pidiya-Mutvendi route in the Gangaloor area of Bijapur district. During the patrol, the team of CRPF’s 199th Battalion Bomb Disposal (BD) team successfully identified and safely destroyed the IED at the site, an official said. The pressure IED was specifically planted by Maoists to target the security forces.
