Raipur, May 23 (IANS) As many as 24 hardcore hardcore Maoists, collectively carrying a bounty of Rs 83.50 lakh, surrendered at the district headquarters of Bijapur within forty-eight hours of elimination of CPI (Maoist) general secretary Nambala Keshav Rao, also known as Basavaraju.

Among those who laid down arms were Hanumath Rao, deputy commander of company number two of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), and his wife, Mangali Korsa, a Platform Party Committee Member (PPCM) of the same unit.

Their surrender was confirmed by Bijapur district superintendent of police, Dr. Jitendra Kumar Yadav. Hanumath had a bounty of Rs 10 lakh, while his wife carried a reward of Rs 8 lakh.

Other senior Maoist leaders who surrendered included Sampat Panum, a PPCM in company number seven of PLGA, along with his wife Laxmi, also a PPCM in the same unit.

Additionally, Raju Fasa and Dasari Kunjam, both members of company number two, as well as Mukka Madvi and Arjun Madvi, cadres of the notorious battalion number one of PLGA, joined the surrender.

Each of them had a bounty of Rs 8 lakh.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai praised the surrendered Maoists for choosing to reintegrate into society.

He emphasised that the surrender of these 24 individuals, with rewards ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs ten lakh, was a direct result of his government’s rehabilitation policy for former Maoists.

According to Bijapur SP, the district has witnessed intense anti-Maoist operations this year, resulting in the deaths of 119 Maoists in separate encounters.

Additionally, 237 were arrested, and 227 surrendered during this period. This wave of surrenders comes in the wake of a major operation in Abujhmad jungle, Narayanpur district, where Basavaraju and 26 other Maoists were killed in an encounter on May 21.

The recent developments signal a significant shift in the ongoing efforts to curb Maoist insurgency in the region.

–IANS

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