RANCHI: As many as 27 Maoists laid down arms before the police in Ranchi on Thursday in the presence of Jharkhand DGP Tadasha Mishra, officials said.
According to police, 25 of these 27 Maoists are top commanders and members of the 'strike squad' belonging to the teams led by Central Committee members Misir Besra and Asim Mandal. The surrendered cadres included six Sub-Zonal Committee members, six Area Committee members, and 13 squad members.
All of them were active in the remote forest and hilly terrains of the Kolhan and Saranda regions.
Additionally, two Maoists, active in the JJMP organisation within the Gumla district also laid down their arms.
Eight of the surrendered Maoists had a total bounty of Rs 33 lakhs on their heads. Several serious criminal cases are registered against all of them across various districts.
According to police officials, this mass surrender signals the weakening of Naxal activities within the state. Police said that the Maoists now are under pressure from the continuous anti-Naxal operations and strict enforcement actions, as well as exploitation and intimidation within the CPI (Maoist) organisation.
The surrendered Maoists will be provided with benefits under the government's rehabilitation policy, enabling them to return to the social mainstream, police said.
"This is the historic day that a large number of Maoists have surrendered today. This will be a turning point in the history of this state in the Naxal scenario. We expect that after this the Naxal problem will take a turn and soon come to an end," said West Singhbhum SP Amit Renu. Operations are still on and very soon the region will be liberated from the Maoists, he added.
When asked about the number of Maoists still left in Saranda and Kolhan jungles of West Singhbhum, the SP said, "All I can say that a very few numbers of Maoists are left in Saranda. We are working on it and also getting constant inputs and operations are being conducted on the basis of that; we are quite hopeful that the problem will end very soon."
Notably, due to sustained operations being conducted across Jharkhand, a total of 44 Maoists have been arrested, 29 surrendered, and 22 Maoists killed in police encounter so far this year.
