208 naxals, including 110 women ultras, surrender in Chhattisgarh

A day after 170 Naxal leaders had surrendered in Chhattisgarh, as many as 208 Naxals surrendered today along with a cache of 153 arms before the state government in Dandakaranya.

With this, most of North Abujhmad is now relatively free of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) and only South Bastar remains to be freed from Naxal violence, official sources said.

The Naxals who surrendered today include a Central Committee member (CCM), four cadres of Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee (DKSZC), one regional committee member, 98 members of the outlawed CPI (Maoist), 21 cadres of DVCM, 61 cadres of ACM and members of PLGA and RPC of CPI (Maoist).

Out of the total 208 ultras who surrendered, 98 are male while 110 are female cadres of CPI (Maoist).

The weapons under their possession include 19 AK 47 rifles, 17 SLR rifles, 23 INSAS rifles, one INSAS LMG, 36 .303 rifles, 11 BGL launchers, four carbines, 41 Bore single shot guns and one pistol.

Today's surrender comes within 24 hours of 170 Naxals surrendering in Chhattisgarh on October 16, with some of them carrying rewards ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 1 crore.

Among those who had surrendered on Thursday included 10 senior operatives, including Satish, alias T Vasudeo Rao of Central Committee Member (CCM); Ranita (SZCM, Secretary of Maad DVC); ⁠Bhaskar (DVCM, PL 32); Nila, alias Nande (DVCM, IC, and Secretary of Nelnar AC), Deepak Palo (DVCM, IC, and Secretary of Indravati AC).

T Vasudeo Rao (CCM) carried a reward of Rs 1 crore on his head. Operatives of SZCM rank had rewards of Rs 25 lakh, DVCMs Rs 10 to Rs 15 lakh and ACMs carried rewards worth Rs 5 lakh.

A large number of automatic weapons, including AK-47s, INSAS, SLRs and 303 rifles, were also surrendered by the Naxals.

These surrenders also come just three days after Mallojula Venugopal Rao, alias Sonu (70), a member of the CPI (Maoist)’s Politburo, had surrendered in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli alongside 60 other cadres on October 14.

With Sonu's surrender, only nine core Central Committee members of CPI (Maoist) are now absconding.

These are Muppala Laxman Rao, Thippiri Thirupathi (reportedly the new CPI (Maoist) general secretary), Pulluri Prasad Rao, Paka Hanumanthulu, Pusunuri Narahari (all from Telangana), Misir Besra, Anal Da (both from Jharkhand) and Madavi Hidma as well as Majjidev (both from Chhattisgarh).