MALKANGIRI: An area committee member-ranked cadre of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit carrying Rs 21 lakh reward surrendered before Malkangiri police on Wednesday.
Malkangiri SP Vinod Patil said the surrendered cadre, Sukhram Markam alias Suresh, was a commander-level functionary in Kangerghati area committee of the Maoists. While surrendering at the district police office, Markam handed over one SLR rifle, two magazines and 12 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition. Other items recovered from him included codex wire, crackers, electric wire, a haversack, Maoist uniform, medicine kit and literature.
A native of Govindpal village under Puspal police limits in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh, 32-year-old Markam had joined the Maoist organisation in 2010 and gradually rose through the ranks. He worked in different squads and local guerrilla units before becoming an area committee member.
Police records show Markam underwent several rounds of training, including ideological classes under the Maoists’ mobile academic school (MAS), and was reportedly involved in multiple incidents of violence in Odisha and Chhattisgarh. He was also involved in exchanges of fire with security forces and abduction, said police.
Patil said Markam’s decision to lay down arms represents not only a tactical success but also a symbolic ‘final blow’ to the Maoists’ shrinking organisational presence in the Odisha-Chhattisgarh border belt. Sustained security operations, improved area domination and growing disillusionment within the ranks have steadily reduced the Maoist network in Malkangiri.
The SP further said under the state government’s new surrender policy, Markam will be entitled to a rehabilitation package of Rs 21 lakh. He has been given an interim relief of Rs 25,000 and will receive additional benefits including housing support, skill development training with a stipend, health card coverage and access to subsidised ration schemes.