RAIPUR: A hardcore naxal, carrying a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head, Thursday surrendered in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, police said.
Vetti Rama turned himself in before senior officials at the Sukma police headquarters and also deposited an INSAS rifle, Deputy Inspector General (anti-naxal operations) Sundarraj P told PTI.
He said that Rama was involved in the incident on March 13 this year in Sukma's Kistaram area in which naxals blew up a mine protected vehicle of the CRPF, killing nine troopers.
Sundarraj said that Rama, with a reward of Rs 8 lakh on his head, had joined the proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist) in 1995 and had taken part in several major naxal attacks.
The official said that Rama has told police that the increasing pressure of security forces in Sukma, and the state government's surrender policy, had compelled several members to quit the banned outfit.
Rama revealed that sustained operations by security forces in Chintagufa, Kistaram and Bhejji- considered as core areas of Maoists in Sukma, coupled with development works, resulted in the naxals' hold weakening in the area, the DIG said.
His interrogation has also revealed crucial details about the Maoist urban network and sympathisers, the DIG said.
Rama's is the second such surrender of a key naxal operative in the last one month.
On August 23, Pahad Singh, a senior member of the newly formed Maoist "special zonal Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (SZMMC) committee", had laid down arms in the state's Durg district.