BHAWANIPATNA: A woman Maoist cadre carrying a reward of Rs two lakh on her head surrendered before security personnel here on Monday. She is Laxmi alias Ratna (20) of Palgurha village in Chhattisgarh. She had joined the outlawed outfit in 2013.
After undergoing training, Laxmi was working as an armed cadre for Moderm Balkrishna alias Manoj of Odisha State Committee of CPI (Maoist). She was operating in Gundi, Kiding and Belghar reserve forests under Kalahandi and Kandhamal districts.
Interacting with mediapersons here, she said during combing operation near Manaska under Bhawanipatna block on February 8, her team members fled leaving her alone. They did not try to contact her even after the operation was over. Subsequently, she came to know about surrender by Maoist cadre Suka Majhi of Chhattisgarh before Kalahandi Police and decided to give up arms. Majhi was carrying `one lakh reward on his head and had surrendered before the security forces during an anti-Maoist operation in Karlapat Reserve Forest of Kalahandi district on Saturday.
Laxmi alleged that in the last three years, she along with other woman cadres of the outfit were subjected to harassment and on many occasions, had faced sexual assault by senior cadres. She was also not allowed to return to her village.
Deputy Commandant of CRPF, Suryamani Behera said currently, one company of 4th Battalion and two companies of 64 battalion of CRPF have been deployed in Kalahandi.