As many as 108 Maoists from Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region, cumulatively carrying a reward of ₹3.95 crore on their heads, on Wednesday surrendered before the security forces ahead of the March 31 deadline set to end Maoism in India, and led to the recovery of the biggest Maoist weapons dump ever.
The Union home ministry said at least eight divisional committee members were among those who surrendered. Most surrendered Maoists are from the Bijapur district (37), followed by Dantewada (30). Bijapur, Sukma, and Narayanpur in the Bastar zone are among the three last remaining Left-wing extremism-affected districts.
A Bastar zone police statement said the security forces made the largest recovery of a weapons dump ever in the history of anti-Maoist operations based on the inputs from the surrendered Maoists. A detailed statement on the recovery was expected later on Wednesday.
The Maoists from the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee surrendered under the initiative “Poona Margem: From Rehabilitation to Rejuvenation”.
Police said just two Central Committee members of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) are now wanted ahead of the deadline to end Maoism. The Committee had 21 members until January 1 last year. Nineteen of them surrendered or were killed in gunfights. At its peak during the early 2000s, the committee had 40-45 members.