Post- Devji Surrender: Bastar Set To Witness Massive Wave Of Surrenders By Maoists: Intel

Raipur: The message of purported surrender of ‘supreme commander’ of Naxal organization Devji alias Thippri Tirupati before the Telangana police has spread like wildfire across the rank and file of the red cadre, raising the prospects of Naxals in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region surrendering in hordes in coming days, intelligence reports have suggested.

A message by the Balangir-Bargarh- Mahasamund (BBM) division of Maoists expressing their readiness to surrender in Chhattisgarh is a pointer to potential mass surrenders of Naxals in Bastar in coming days.

In a letter to Chhattisgarh deputy chief minister Vijay Sharma, one Vikalp who claimed himself as BBM division secretary, said that the entire division comprising 15 members is ready to surrender if they are assured of security while coming out of the forests to lay down arms before the police.

According to him, the division comprised three divisional committee members (DVCMs), five area committee members (ACMs), and seven party members (PMs).

While 14 members of the division hailed from Chhattisgarh, the other Maoist is a native of Telangana.

“We were expecting a call by the Central Committee (CC) of our organization to the cadres to surrender. Since such a call is not coming, a decision has been taken at the division level that all the 15 Naxals of the division will lay down their arms”, the letter said.

The letter urged Mr. Sharma to make an announcement on the radio assuring their security before they surrender.

“We have received a message from the BBM division of Maoists seeking security for surrender. We are going to assure them of their security and rehabilitation if they surrender through a radio message”, Mr. Sharma said on Monday.

Sources said that at least three dozen top as well as middle-level Maoist leaders along with their followers, active in Bastar, have relayed messages to the police through various sources expressing their readiness to surrender.

When contacted Bastar range inspector general of police P Sunderraj said, “In the present circumstances, as the Maoist organization steadily declines, its members are left with little meaningful alternative but to renounce violence and return to the mainstream of society”.

The surrender of senior Maoist leaders in Bastar region and other Leftwing Extremism-affected states in recent times has created a strong momentum, encouraging other cadres to follow suit, he said.