A female Maoist leader carries a reward $10,000 people surrendered before Kolkata Police on Wednesday with firearms and ammunition in their possession.
Police said Shakuntala, also known as Pushpa and Parsa, was active for over two decades and worked under senior CPI(M) leader Misra Bisra in Jharkhand’s Saranda forest before he decided to lay down arms.
“A resident of Belpahari in West Bengal, she joined the Maoist Communist Center around 2001 as a cultural member when she was in Standard V. She was a district committee member of the Dalma division of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). She surrendered in front of us,” Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Nand said.
In September 2004, two major far-left rebel groups – the People’s War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Center (MCC) – merged to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
“They were active in areas along the borders of Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar. Later, they moved to Saranda forest, to work under Basra. There were also some Maoist members from West Bengal. They are still there in Saranda district. In February, I decided to surrender,” Nand said.
“I thought the path was not right and hence I decided to leave this path. The government was urging me to join the mainstream. That is why I surrendered and laid down arms,” Nand added.
In his late sixties, Basra, who carries a bounty $1 crore and similar rewards in neighboring states, holed up in the jungle with a group of loyal forces. His family sent a final appeal, through the government, calling on him to lay down his arms.
Security forces said Basra, known by the aliases Bhaskar, Sunil, Sunirmal and Vivek, refused to surrender, even as most other senior Maoist commanders laid down arms or were neutralized over the past two years, following a renewed drive by the Center to eliminate the rebels.
“While some cases are still pending against Shakuntala in West Bengal, most of the cases against her are registered in Jharkhand. She is getting a reward of Rs. $10 lakh in Jharkhand,” Nand said.
