ROURKELA: A 15-year-old cadre of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit surrendered before Rourkela police with a carbine weapon on Thursday.
The teenager, Roya Kalundi alias Ganesh, is a native of Kontodya village under Jamda police limits in West Singhbhum district of the adjacent Jharkhand. He was operating in Kolhan range of the dense Saranda forest in West Singhbhum along the Odisha-Jharkhand border. Ganesh was reportedly involved in four incidents of violence under Rourkela police limits on Sundargarh side of the border in 2025.
DIG (Western Range) Brijesh Kumar Rai and Rourkela SP Nitesh Wadhwani said as a 12-year-old child in 2022, Ganesh had joined the banned outfit under the influence of Maoist cadres Rappa and Gunga. He started working under the leadership of local Maoist leader Mochhu.
The DIG said the teenager was involved in the loot of an explosives-laden vehicle from Banko, series IED blasting of railway tracks between Renjda and Topadihi and the explosion in Banko reserve forest, all under K Balang police limits, between May and August 2025. The minor was also involved in a Maoist violence case under Bondamunda Government Railway Police (GRP) limits.
Rai said a category B cadre of the outfit, Ganesh was a member of the South Chhotanagpur division of the outfit and active in Saranda forest. He would be entitled to all permissible benefits.
Wadhwani said the boy surrendered with a 9 mm carbine weapon in working condition. He quit the Maoist organisation amid constant threat to his life, hard jungle life and frustration with the Maoist ideology.
Police said after his surrender, the minor spoke in detail about the sequence of events leading to the loot of the explosives-laden vehicle from near a stone quarry in Banko forest on May 27. The IED explosion in Banko forest on June 14 had claimed the life of a CRPF ASI. In the IED blasting case, a railway trackmen was killed and another suffered critical injuries near Renjda on August 3.
The SP said attracted by the lucrative surrender policy of the Odisha government, many other Maoist cadres are also willing to join the mainstream of the society. He appealed to the Maoists to shun violence, lay down arms, join the mainstream and work towards nation building.