As many as 56 Naxals including three women surrendered today in the insurgency-hit Bastar district of Chhattisgarh, expressing disappointment with the ideology of the outlawed Naxal movement and violence, police said.
These rebels, most of them lower-rung cadres, turned themselves in before senior police and government officials at Jagdalpur district headquarters.
"An area committee member, two janmilitia deputy commander, three janmilitia commanders, 12 Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Majdoor Sangthan (DAKMS) - a frontal outfit of Maoist members, one DAKMS chief, 19 janmilitia members and 18 sangham members surrendered today," Bastar Superintendent of Police R N Dash told PTI.
Dreaded woman Maoist Mase alias Shabnam Mandavi (23), an area committee member carrying a reward of Rs five lakh on her head, surrendered along with a muzzle loading gun, he said.
Similarly, DAKMS chief Sonu Dudhi (36) was also carrying a reward of Rs five lakh on his head, while Rs one lakh each was announced for the arrest of janmilitia commanders - Lakhma Madkami (25), Ghasiya Baghel (25) and Rama Dhurva (20), Dash said, adding that all of them expressed disappointment with the ideology of the outlawed Naxal movement and violence.
Besides, they were also impressed with the provisions of surrender and rehabilitation policy of the state government which compelled them to join the mainstream, the SP said.
"Most of the surrendered cadres possess cards of government schemes, including ration and Aadhaar cards. 46 of them have Aadhaar cards, 36 have voter ID cards, 11 ration cards. Moreover, five of them have bank accounts," Dash said.
With these cards, Naxals try to mislead police as people think Maoists can not possess such ID cards, he said.
"A consolation amount of Rs 10,000 was given to each of the surrendered Naxals, while they will be further facilitated as per the surrender policy," Dash added.
As many as 182 Naxals have surrendered in Bastar district in the past three months.
