Three Maoists surrendered before security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district on Saturday, officials said, and added inputs from them were being used to contact other insurgents in the region and persuade them to give up violence ahead of the Union government’s March 31 deadline to end Left-wing extremism in the country.
Radhika Kunjam, Sandip Kadiyam, and Rainu Padda, the three, handed over two self-loading rifles and a .303 rifle to the police.Kunjam and Kadiyam were area committee members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), Kanker police superintendent Nikhil Rakhecha said. On March 25 and 26, six Maoists surrendered in Kanker.
Inspector general (Bastar Range) Sundarraj Pattilingam reiterated his appeal to remaining Maoists to lay down arms, assuring them of benefits under the state government’s surrender and rehabilitation policy.
Officials said over 2,700 Maoists have surrendered over the past 26 months under the policy. On March 24, Maoist commander Papa Rao and 17 others surrendered in the Bastar region. Deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma had then said that no senior Maoist leader was active in the state following Rao’s surrender.