PATNA: A dreaded Maoist commander in Jharkhand carrying an award of Rs 5 lakh on his head surrendered before police on Wednesday and said the leftwing rebels had lost their ideological mooring in recent years.
Sanjay Korba, the sub-zonal commander of banned leftwing outfit CPI(Maoist) active in Jharkhand for over a decade, laid down arms and surrendered in Latehar before Palamu range DIG Vipul Shukla and Latehar SP Anoop Birthire. The surrender activity was organised in the form of a ceremony with police officials, the local people and media persons present on the occasion.
“He (Korba) would be given all the benefits as per the government’s ‘Nai Disha’ (new direction) scheme meant to rehabilitate Maoists who surrender. He had been carrying an award of Rs 5 lakh on his head and wanted by police for years,” said Birthire.
Korba, who is in his early 40s, said he had been feeling suffocated in the Maoist outfit for a long time. “The Maoist outfits have lost their ideological purity and are engaged in a lot of illegal activities in order to retain their influence in the underdeveloped areas. I had been feeling uneasy in such an atmosphere. I appeal to all other Maoists to quit the path of violence and return to the mainstream,” said Korba.
In Chatra, Mukesh Yadav alias Toofani, an area commander of banned Maoist outfit People’s Liberation Front of India (PLFI), was arrested on Tuesday. Yadav had been carrying an award of Rs 2 lakh on his head, said police officials.
“Yadav was carrying out a secret campaign in Simaria area to recruit cadres from interior villages for PLFI. He was caught in a raid conducted soon after police got a tip-off about his presence in the area,” said Chatra SP Anjani Kumar Jha.