BHOPAL: A wanted CPI (Maoist) cadre from Chhattisgarh surrendered before police in the Naxal-affected Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.
Carrying a reward of Rs 14 lakh, the woman, identified as Sunita from Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh, surrendered at the Choriya police camp in the Lanji police station area of Balaghat district, the Madhya Pradesh Police said in an official statement on Sunday.
The development marks the first surrender by an armed Naxal cadre from outside Madhya Pradesh since 1992. It is also the first surrender by any armed Maoist cadre in the state under the Madhya Pradesh Surrender, Rehabilitation and Relief Policy, 2023.
Sunita laid down an INSAS rifle, three magazines, 30 live rounds, and an under-barrel grenade launcher (UBGL) shell before the police.
She was an area committee member (ACM) of the Malajkhand-Darre Khasa Dalam and was active in the Gondia-Rajnandgaon-Balaghat (GRB) division, covering parts of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
The Rs 14 lakh bounty on her was jointly announced by the police of all three states.
Sunita joined the outlawed outfit in 2022 and initially served as a guard to central committee member Ramder.
Congratulating the state police and its anti-Naxal operations on securing the first surrender in 33 years, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said that armed Naxal cadres carrying a total bounty of Rs 1.46 crore have been neutralised by the state police over the past ten months.