26 Maoists Surrender Before Sukma SP in Chhattisgarh
Total reward of ₹64 lakh announced on surrendered cadres; police urge others to join the mainstream.
Raipur: Less than a week after top Maoist Barse Deva, commander of People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA)’s battalion number one, surrendered in Hyderabad in Telangana, 26 Naxals, mostly his followers, on Wednesday laid down arms in Sukma under south Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.
Thirteen out of the 26 surrendered Naxals carried a cumulative bounty of Rs 64 lakhs, Sukma district superintendent of police Kiran Chavan said.
This was the first mass surrender of Naxals in the current year so far.
The surrendered Maoists belonged to different Naxal formations such as PLGA battalion number one, South Bastar Division, Maad Division, and Andhra-Odisha Border Division.
Key Maoists who surrendered included Muchaki Aayete Lakhmu (35), Hemla Lakhma, Asmita alias Kamlu Soni (20), Padam Jogi alias Ramvati (21), and Sundam Pale (20).
While Muchaki, a Company Party Committee member, carried a bounty of Rs ten lakhs, other four Naxal leaders carried a reward of Rs eight lakh each.
Muchaki was allegedly involved in the 2017 IED (improvised explosive device) blast in Koraput in Odisha in which 14 security personnel were killed.
Similarly, Hemla was allegedly involved in the 2020 Minpa ambush in Sukma district in which 17 security personnel were killed.
The mass surrender of Naxals came ahead of the deadline of March 31, 2026 set by the Centre to end Naxalism in the country.
Dreaded Naxal Deva (49) surrendered along with 20 of his associates and sophisticated weapons in Hyderabad on January three.
His surrender has virtually put the last nail in the coffin of the three-decade-long Leftwing extremism in Bastar in Chhattisgarh.