19 Naxals surrender in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma

Sukma, February 28

Nineteen Naxals, including four women cadres, surrendered in Chhattisgarh’s worst insurgency-hit Sukma district, police said on Monday.

The ultras, three of them carrying cash rewards of Rs 1 lakh each on their heads, turned themselves in before police and CRPF officials at Bhejji police station in the district on Sunday evening, citing disappointment with the “inhuman” and “hollow” Maoist ideology, a senior official said.

All the rebels hailed from Bodhrajpadar village in Bhejji area and were active as lower rung cadres of the outlawed Maoist movement, the official said.

A large number of locals accompanied them when they reached the police station, located over 400 km from the state capital Raipur, he said.

The official said the ultras who laid down their arms were also “impressed” by the district police’s rehabilitation drive for Naxals, called ‘Puna Narkom’ (a term coined in local Gondi dialect which means New Dawn, New Beginning).

They will be provided facilities as per the Chhattisgarh government’s surrender and rehabilitation policy, the official said.