C’garh: Maoist commander, ‘involved’ in killing of more than 100 jawans, surrender along with Naxal wife, couple carry bounty of Rs 13 lakh

Raipur: A ‘dreaded’ Maoist commander along with his Naxal wife has surrendered before police in Bijapur in south Bastar in Chhattisgarh, sources said on Monday.

However, a spokesman of the Bastar police said Dinesh Modium, secretary of Gangaloor area committee functioning under the West Bastar Division of Maoists along with his wife Kala Tati, a member of Gangaloor area committee, have ‘contacted’ Bijapur police for surrender.

The Maoist couple have contacted the Bijapur police after being impressed by the Naxal surrender and rehabilitation policy of the Chhattisgarh government, the spokesman of the Bastar police said.

Necessary action was being taken as per the law, the spokesman said.

While Dinesh carried a bounty of Rs eight lakh, his wife carried a reward of Rs five lakh.

Dinesh had joined Maoist cadre when he was a minor and rose in the rank of the red cadre owing to his expertise in handling automatic weapons, laying ambush and planting improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to target the security forces.

He was a good insurgency strategist and allegedly involved in a number of major attacks on security forces in Bijapur district in the last decade, leading to killing of more than 100 jawans, police said.

He was said to be close to dreaded Maoist leader and Central Committee (CC) member Hidma Madvi, commander of Maoists’ battalion number one Deva and other senior Naxal leaders operating in Bastar.

Sources said the decision by the hardcore Maoist to surrender before police was fallout of serious infighting in the top-level Maoist leaders, operating in Bastar, triggered by a series of setbacks suffered by Maoists at the hands of security forces in the last 15 months.

More than 300 Maoists including two dozen senior leaders were killed in separate encounters in Bastar in the last 15 months.