Mahasamund, fifteen Naxalites, including veteran Ultra Vikas, hold a cumulative bonus of $Police officials said 73,000 people surrendered in Chhattisgarh’s Mahasamund district on Sunday, dismantling the banned movement in the Raipur-Sambalpur belt that straddles the state’s border with Odisha.
They added that the surrendered persons, including nine women, belonged to the Balangir-Bargarh-Mahasamund section of the Communist Party of India active along the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border.
The officials said they laid down the arms at the Mahasamund district headquarters here in the presence of Chhattisgarh Additional Director General of Police Vivekanand Sinha, Inspector General of Police Sambalpur, Himanshu Lal, IGP Amrish Mishra and others.
ADGP Sinha told a press conference that with the surrender of these 15, the western sub-district of the Odisha Maoist State Commission has been completely dismantled. Odisha State Commission and BBM Department were formed after 2010.
“Till last year, the sub-district consisted of two divisions and seven district committees. Now, Raipur police district in Chhattisgarh and Sambalpur district in Odisha are completely free of Naxalite influence. This is an important milestone towards complete elimination of Naxalism by March 2026,” Sinha said.
Police officials said continuous appeals were made to BBM division committee members active in the border areas of Mahasamund through various communication channels, including Akashvani broadcast, banners, posters and flyers.
The state government’s surrender and rehabilitation policy, which offers rank-based financial incentives, additional rewards for surrender with weapons, healthcare benefits, and housing and employment subsidies, has also been widely deployed to bring ultras back into the mainstream, they said.
The officials said that these cadres decided to abandon violence after becoming disillusioned with the hollow Maoist ideology, the hardships of life in the forests, and the long separation from their families. Police said they were also affected by former Maoists who surrendered earlier and are now living a stable life under the rehabilitation scheme.
Among those who surrendered were Vikas, also known as Sudarshan, Gangu, Pappanna, Rajanna and Mobidi Sampayah, a native of Warangal district in Telangana, who was active in the banned movement since 1985, Sinha said.
He was part of the Telangana State Zonal Committee, worked for 10 years as the southern sub-zonal secretary of the Dandakaranya Special District Committee in Chhattisgarh, and was in-charge of Gadchiroli division for two years, the official said.
“Vikas was among those who helped set up the Odisha State Committee and received a reward of Rs $25 lakh. Two other ward committee members, Mangesh and Babu, received bonuses $8 lakh each. Five district committee members received bonuses $5 lakh each, while seven party members received bonuses $1 lakh each,” the ADGP told reporters.
Six of the surrendered cadres – Neela, Sonu, Reena, Dinesh, Debna and Raneela – had earlier served as bodyguards of Central Committee member Jairam alias Chalapati, who was killed in an encounter in January last year in Chhattisgarh’s Jariabandh district.
After his death, the six were transferred to the BBM department under Vikas, Sinha said.
The surrendered Naxalites handed over 14 weapons, including three AK-47 rifles, two SLR rifles, two INSAS rifles, four .303 rifles and three 12-bore rifles, the official said.
The police urged the remaining Naxalites in Bastar as well as the residents of Odisha’s Eastern Sub-division to lay down arms and join the mainstream by embracing the constitution and the tricolour.
Speaking to reporters in Raipur, Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma, who holds the Home Ministry, described the development as an important step under the state government’s rehabilitation policy.
“Today’s rehabilitation is very important. Fifteen Naxalites of the BBM have surrendered. There are only 15 members left in this squad and all of them have laid down their arms now,” he said.
Officials said the group made contact with security forces on Wednesday evening before officially surrendering.
According to officials, in the last two years, 532 Maoists have been neutralized, more than 2,700 have surrendered, and more than 2,000 have been arrested in Chhattisgarh.
Officials stressed that the ongoing march of security forces against ultras in Chhattisgarh and some other states is part of the Centre’s resolve to eliminate left-wing extremism in the country by March 31 this year.
This article was generated from an automated news feed without any modifications to the text.
